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BR    121    .T46    1919 
Thorns,    Craig   S.    1860-1945 
The   essentials   of 
Christianity 


THE    ESSENTIALS 
OF    CHRISTIANITY 


THE  ESSENTIALS    ^ 
OF  CHRISTIANITY 


CRAIG  S.  THOMS,  Ph.  D. 

Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  University 
of  South  Dakota 

Author  of 
"  The  Bible  Message  for  Modern  Manhood 
"  The  Workingman's  Christ,"  etc 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE     JUDSON     PRESS 


BOSTON 

CHICAGO 

ST.  LOUIS 

NEW  YORK 
SEATTLE 

LOS  ANGELES 

KANSAS  CITY 
TORONTO 

Copyright,  1919,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 

Published  December,  1919 


TO 
©je  T&uxlbexs  of  tUmmtrrafo 

WHOSE    CHRISTIANITY    MUST    BE    SIMPLE 
SPIRITUAL    AND    BROTHERLY 


PREFACE 


Our  day  calls  for  what  is  practical  in  edu- 
cation, efficient  in  industry,  and  workable 
in  political  and  economic  relations.  In  these 
spheres  we  are  rightfully  impatient  of  beat- 
ing the  air,  intolerant  of  waste  and  loss 
of  power,  and  insistent  upon  modern  ma- 
chinery and  new  methods.  Organization 
is  our  watchword,  and  we  want  every  man 
at  his  post. 

Religion,  like  everything  else,  has  caught 
the  temper  of  the  age.  Its  leaders  are  im- 
bued with  the  same  spirit  as  educators,  and 
feel  the  thrill  of  business  efficiency.  They 
think  in  vital  terms ;  they  discern  the  need 
of  new  view-points;  they  speak  in  modern 
language;  they  know  the  power  of  organ- 
ization; they  want  every  religious  man  on 
the  job ;  they  are  aware  that  all  our  boasted 
modern  science  and  invention,  which  are 
lightening  the  burdens  of  work,  rilling  the 
world  with  comforts,  and  providing  un- 
heard-of leisure,  may  do  more  harm  than 


preface 

good  unless  men  are  made  better.  The 
world  needs  better  men,  and  men  every- 
where need  to  lay  hold  upon  those  forces 
which  enable  them  to  become  better. 

These  facts  have  been  accentuated  by 
the  world  war.  Recently  the  church  has 
been  criticized  for  a  sort  of  fatalistic  re- 
maining in  old  ruts  while  the  world  was 
rapidly  changing.  During  the  war  the 
Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Associations,  and  other  religious 
bodies,  working  at  home  and  abroad,  gave 
a  tensely  practical  turn  to  religion.  The 
millions  of  virile  young  men  in  canton- 
ments and  trenches  who  were  religiously  in- 
clined, thought  of  religion  in  vital  terms. 
They  were  eager  for  reality.  They  sought 
a  workable  and  working  religion. 

Today  some  are  growing  negligent  of  re- 
ligion and  becoming  indifferent  to  its 
claims.  They  seem  unable  to  make  those 
readjustments  in  thought  and  attitude  which 
the  times  demand.  They  rebel  against  old 
theology  without  getting  for  themselves  a 
new  and  better  theology.  They  have  not 
outgrown  the  notion  obtaining  a  genera- 
tion ago  that  science  and  the  Bible  were 
in  conflict.     They  are  impatient  with  the 


preface 

church,  failing  to  understand  that  institu- 
tions always  move  more  slowly  than  in- 
dividuals, and  that  the  permanence  and  use- 
fulness of  all  institutions  are  conditioned 
upon  adjustments  made  by  forward-looking 
people  who  feel  the  need  of  readjustments. 
Modern  knowledge  of  science  seems  to  have 
removed  God  from  their  world  because  they 
still  think  of  God  in  outgrown  terms. 
Christ  fails  to  be  dynamic  in  their  lives  be- 
cause they  cannot  appropriate  him  by  the 
theology  of  other  days. 

To  discard  what  is  outgrown  is  only 
half  of  the  modern  man's  task;  the  other 
half  is  to  take  on  and  live  in  the  new,  and 
to  be  made  of  worth  and  service  by  the 
new.  When  some  can  no  longer  accept 
old  terms  and  theologies  they  throw  away 
their  religion  and  become  idlers  in  the 
moral  and  spiritual  spheres.  Let  the  mod- 
ern man,  if  he  feels  the  need,  choose  his 
own  terms  and  make  his  own  theology,  but 
let  him  not  be  an  idler  in  living  the  in- 
spirational life  and  in  helping  those  about 
him  to  a  grip  on  God.  Let  him  deal  with 
vital  and  essential  things  in  religion  and 
leave  other  things  of  more  remote  conse- 
quence for  time  to  adjust. 


preface 

This  volume  is  sent  forth  with  the  hope 
that  it  may  help  men  over  difficulties  which 
hold  them  back  from  Christian  activity  and 
enable  them  to  enlist  all  their  powers  in  the 
one  task  which  alone  can  supply  the  world's 
greatest  need — the  building  of  better  men. 

Craig  S.  Thoms. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.  Faith   i 

II.  God    25 

III.  Christ    47 

IV.  Evolution   73 

V.  The  Bible 95 

VI.  Prayer   123 

VII.  Immortality 147 

VIII.  The  Church 193 

IX.  Cooperating  with  God 231 


1 

faitb 


FAITH 


IN  order  to  understand  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  faith  and  appreciate  its  power 
in  religion  we  must  first  of  all  tear  the 
word  loose  from  its  theological  definitions 
and  applications  and  see  it  operative  in  the 
whole  of  life. 

Faith  is  usually  regarded  as  a  religious 
term,  and  the  word  is  most  frequently  em- 
ployed in  that  connection.  In  other  spheres 
of  life,  such  as  home,  school,  or  business, 
we  are  more  accustomed  to  the  words  "  be- 
lief, confidence,  trust,"  and  other  like  terms. 
And  yet  we  say :  "  I  have  faith  in  myself," 
meaning  confidence ;  "  I  have  faith  in  my 
friends,"  meaning  trust. 

Without  hair-splitting  definitions,  then, 
let  it  be  noted  how  large  and  powerful  a 
factor  in  all  spheres  of  life  is  that  set  of  the 
soul  which  is  characterized  by  faith,  con- 
fidence, and  trust  as  contrasted  with  that  at- 
titude of  mind  which  is  ever  insisting  upon 
proof. 

[3] 


Cbe  Baeenttala  ot  CbttstlanttE 

The  Fundamental  Character  of  Faith 

Faith  underlies  all  our  knowing  proc- 
esses. For  example,  we  arrive  at  some  con- 
clusion ;  another  insists  that  we  are  wrong ; 
but  we  believe  that  we  are  right.  That  is, 
we  trust  the  processes  of  our  own  minds. 
Faith  in  the  integrity  of  our  rational  proc- 
esses is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole 
superstructure  of  knowledge  rests.  One 
cannot  even  prove  himself  sane  to  another 
who  challenges  his  sanity.  He  may  plead 
that  he  is  like  most  other  people,  but  the 
challenger  may  insist  that  all  are  insane 
but  himself.  One  simply  believes  in  and 
trusts  his  own  sanity.  Upon  this  basis  of 
faith  in  the  integrity  of  one's  own  mental 
operations  all  knowledge  is  built. 

Our  constantly  besetting  temptation  is  to 
seek  proof  of  things,  and  were  this  not  the 
case  it  would  be  difficult  to  see  how  our 
reasoning  faculty  could  be  exercised  and 
developed.  This  is  its  means  of  growth. 
But  the  facts  of  evolution  teach  that  reason 
is  our  baby  faculty — the  latest  born  of  them 
all.  This  baby,  reason,  will  grow  to  man- 
hood in  time,  and  will  doubtless  do  valiantly 
when  grown;  but  as  yet  he  is  not  fully 

[4] 


ffattb 

capable  of  holding  the  reins  of  life.  Daily 
life  is  guided  more  by  faith  than  by  reason. 

Underlying  all  education  is  faith  in  one's 
unfolding  powers.  The  athlete  believes  that 
he  can  run  faster  and  jump  higher  tomor- 
row than  he  did  today.  The  football  squad 
believe  that  they  can  win  this  year  from  the 
team  to  which  they  lost  last  year.  By  faith 
the  student  passes  from  less  difficult  to  more 
difficult  studies.  He  believes  that  he  can 
master  untried  problems,  though  there  is  no 
possible  proof  of  it  beforehand.  The  grad- 
uate goes  forth  to  his  chosen  work — teach- 
ing, engineering,  law,  medicine,  or  what- 
ever it  may  be — believing  in  his  ability  to 
succeed.  It  is  a  veritable  plunge  of  faith. 
He  does  not  and  cannot  know  beforehand 
that  success  awaits  him.  The  person  full  of 
faith  succeeds  where  the  one  who  lacks 
faith  fails. 

The  driving  power  in  all  wars  and  in  all 
business  is  faith.  No  nation  goes  to  war 
unless  it  believes  that  it  can  win.  No  farmer 
plows  and  sows  who  lacks  faith  in  the  com- 
ing of  rain  and  in  the  conquest  of  insect 
pests.  No  manufacturing  would  be  done 
in  advance  of  demand  but  for  faith  in 
markets  to  take  the  product.    All  are  aware 

[5) 


Zbe  Essentials  of  Cbrlsttanttg 

that  lack  of  faith  in  the  business  world 
produces  panic.  In  a  country  like  ours, 
where  the  bulk  of  business  is  done  on  credit, 
faith  is  one  of  the  chief  ingredients  of  busi- 
ness stability.  No  young  man  can  prove 
that  he  will  not  die  in  the  poorhouse,  yet 
each  of  us  proceeds  joyfully  with  his  work 
in  faith  that  he  will  be  able  to  acquire  a 
competence  for  old  age. 

Our  homes  are  established  in  faith. 
What  risks  we  run  in  marriage !  Shall 
husband  and  wife  be  able  to  get  along  to- 
gether? If  they  waited  for  demonstration 
of  this  fact  they  would  never  marry.  Shall 
the  husband  succeed  in  business  and  be  able 
to  provide  a  home  ?  Shall  children  turn  out 
well?  Shall  life  be  spared  to  old  age  and 
happiness  strew  the  long  pathway?  None 
can  tell.  We  believe  the  best,  and  we  pro- 
ceed joyfully  by  faith. 

Every  great  enterprise  is  born,  not  of 
knowledge,  but  of  faith.  "  Find  Living- 
stone." Stanley  believed  that  he  could  find 
him,  and  he  did.  "  Find  the  North  Pole." 
Peary  believed  that  he  could  do  it,  and  he 
succeeded.  "  Go  disciple  all  nations."  The 
disciples  believed  that  it  could  be  done,  and 
it  is  being  done.     Do  we  know  that  the 

[6] 


jfaitb 

League  of  Nations  will  succeed?  It  can- 
not be  known  beforehand.  We  believe  it 
will  succeed.  Without  that  faith  it  never 
would  be  tried. 

All  scientific  knowledge  proceeds  upon 
the  basis  of  faith.  From  his  look  at  the 
swaying  chandelier  in  the  cathedral  at  Pisa, 
Galileo  believed  in  the  law  of  the  pendu- 
lum and  proceeded  to  prove  it.  By  seeing 
the  apple  fall,  Newton  believed  in  the  law 
of  gravitation  and  demonstrated  it  mathe- 
matically. Darwin  and  Wallace  believed  in 
the  evolution  of  species  and  spent  years 
gathering  facts  to  prove  it.  Franklin  be- 
lieved that  electricity  could  be  made  to  do 
work,  and  he  proceeded  to  snatch  lightning 
from  the  clouds.  Fulton  believed  that 
steam  could  be  made  to  drive  ships,  and  the 
oceans  are  now  the  highways  of  the  na- 
tions. In  every  laboratory  of  investiga- 
tion men  are  working  toward  things  that 
they  believe  in  but  cannot  prove  as  yet.  If 
faith  were  destroyed,  effort  would  be  para- 
lyzed, and  work  would  cease. 

Inventions  are  the  product  of  faith. 
Cyrus  McCormick  believed  that  he  could 
make  a  machine  to  cut  and  bind  grain.  By 
his  neighbors  he  was  called  lazy,  a   fool, 

[7] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstlanttB 

and  even  crazy.  His  faith  saved  him. 
"  Darius  Green  with  his  flying-machine " 
was  the  joke  of  the  author's  country-school 
days.  But  from  generations  of  men  with 
faith  that  they  could  fly,  a  new  and  terrible 
weapon  was  added  to  the  world  war,  and  a 
new  and  important  method  is  being  added  to 
the  world's  transportation  system. 

Every  great  forward  step  in  government 
is  prompted  by  faith.  Without  the  faith  of 
our  Pilgrim  Fathers  the  Mayflower  would 
have  been  unknown  to  history,  the  charac- 
ter of  this  nation  would  have  been  very  dif- 
ferent, and  the  democratic  purposes  of  the 
Allies  in  the  world  war  impossible. 

When  in  the  crisis  of  Colonial  history 
Benjamin  Franklin  said,  "  We  must  all  hang 
together  or  we  shall  all  hang  separately," 
he  expressed  a  phase  of  the  venture  of  faith 
which  gave  our  nation  birth. 

What  fight  in  life  is  not  a  struggle  of 
faith?  The  young  writer  receives  back 
from  the  critical  editor  manuscript  after 
manuscript,  but  maintains  faith  in  the  suc- 
cess of  his  next  endeavor.  A  noble  man 
begins  a  fight  to  clean  up  one  of  the  worst 
wards  in  Chicago,  believing  after  every  de- 
feat that  it  can  be  done  next  time,  and 

[8] 


ffattb 

finally  it  is  done,  or  done  in  large  measure. 
Faith  did  it. 

Faith  blazes  the  trail  of  the  future.  Co- 
lumbus, with  faith  as  his  chief  asset,  sailed 
forward  to  a  new  continent,  and  refused  to 
turn  back.  The  builders  of  our  trans- 
continental railroads  believed  in  the  de- 
velopment of  our  Middle  West.  By  faith 
they  looked  forward  to  the  time  to  which 
we  have  now  come,  when  towns,  like  neck- 
laces, would  lie  upon  the  bosom  of  the 
prairie,  and  homes  nestle  among  trees  on 
every  hillside  and  in  every  valley.  On  these 
prairies  the  early  settlers  had  no  idea  of 
living  alone.  They  believed  that  they  were 
the  first  of  a  gathering  company,  and  but 
for  this  faith  they  would  not  have  left  their 
old  homes. 

The  following  facts  about  faith  then  are 
evident : 

i.  Faith  is  the  engine  of  life  and  drives 
life  forward  when  certain  knowledge  is  im- 
possible. 

2.  Faith  is  the  pioneering  faculty  of  the 
soul,  and  attempts  and  exploits  all  pos- 
sibilities. 

3.  Faith  runs  risks  and  blazes  the  way 
into  the  larger  unknown. 

[9] 


Cbe  Bssenttate  ot  CbrtettanitE 

4.  Faith  seizes  and  utilizes  opportunities 
which  would  be  lost  if  we  waited  for  cer- 
tain knowledge. 

5.  Faith  is  a  necessary  and  dominant 
power  in  every  field  of  life. 

Faith  as  Individual  Relationship 

Faith  is  the  condition  of  assimilating  the 
best  or  the  worst  in  others. 

Let  a  youth  believe  in  the  life  ideals  of 
the  "  fast  young  man,"  and  he  fairly  ab- 
sorbs him.  He  admires  his  manner  and 
dress ;  he  listens  eagerly  to  accounts  of  his 
exploits;  his  judgment  is  molded  by  his 
ideas  of  morals ;  he  imitates  him  and  grows 
to  be  like  him.  Let  a  youth,  on  the  con- 
trary, lionize  a  person  of  opposite  character, 
and  he  himself  becomes  opposite  in  char- 
acter. Fie  who  admires  the  industrious 
man,  praises  the  temperate  man,  loves  the 
pure  man,  trusts  the  just  man,  and  asso- 
ciates with  the  religious  man,  will  himself 
take  on  these  qualities.  Faith  assimilates 
its  object.  It  is  the  fountain  from  which 
flow  admiration,  praise,  love,  trust.  It  is 
the  condition  of  agreeable  association. 

Though  a  minister  preach  ever  so  good 

[10] 


ffattb 

a  sermon,  only  those  who  have  faith  in  his 
character  are  stirred  by  it.  Though  a  poli- 
tician plead  ever  so  eloquently  for  national 
reform,  those  who  distrust  his  sincerity  are 
not  moved  to  action.  On  the  contrary, 
when  a  speaker  whom  you  trust  is  stirred 
with  his  theme,  you  also  are  stirred;  you 
respond  to  him  and  are  ready  to  act  with 
him.  Faith  in  him  makes  you  absorb  his 
ideas  and  also  something  of  his  passion  and 
power. 

Such  facts  help  us  to  understand  Christ's 
emphasis  on  faith.  It  is  the  psychic  bond 
which  binds  us  to  him;  it  is  our  means  of 
assimilating  his  qualities  of  character;  it  is 
our  faculty  for  rendering  his  ideas  dynamic 
in  us ;  it  is  the  drawing  power  which  brings 
him  and  us  into  vital  association,  makes 
that  association  agreeable,  and  renders  pos- 
sible admiration,  love,  and  obedience;  it  is 
the  channel  through  which  his  nature  and 
ours  flow  together. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  Christ 
says,  if  I  may  paraphrase  him  somewhat 
freely :  He  that  believeth  on  me,  though  he 
were  spiritually  dead,  yet  shall  he  become 
spiritually  alive.  He  that  believeth  on  the 
Son  is  awakened  into  spiritual  life ;  he  that 

[in 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  CbristianttE 

believeth  not  the  Son  cannot  find  spiritual 
life.  (See  John  3  :  16;  5  :  24;  6  :  47 ;  11  : 
25,  26.)  If  you  have  faith  as  a  grain  of 
mustard-seed,  things  shall  be  possible  to 
you  which  otherwise  are  impossible ;  you 
shall  have  power  which  may  be  likened  to 
plucking  a  mountain  out  of  its  place  and 
casting  it  into  the  sea.  (Matt.  21  :  21.) 

Faith  is  not  a  mystical  thing  for  religious 
use  only.  It  functions  the  same  every- 
where between  individuals.  When  exer- 
cised toward  Christ,  it  joins  us  to  Christ; 
Christ  lives  in  us  and  we  in  him ;  our  char- 
acters become  assimilated  to  his ;  we  lay 
hold  upon  his  power,  and  he  works  through 
us. 

Faith  is  the  leverage  under  all  efforts  to 
help  men  and  improve  society.  In  one  of 
his  lectures  Dr.  P.  S.  Henson  used  to  tell 
that,  while  hastening  to  a  train  one  day 
in  Chicago,  he  slipped  a  package  into  a 
postal  box  without  first  putting  stamps  on 
it.  He  had  no  time  to  wait  for  the  postman, 
so,  calling  a  little  ragged  newsboy  from 
across  the  street,  he  told  him  his  predica- 
ment. "  Here  are  twenty-five  stamps  for 
the  postage,"  he  said,  "  and  here  is  money 
to  buy  all  your  papers,  and  you  may  have 

[12] 


jfaitb 

them  to  sell  again.     You  stand  here  and 
wait  for  the  postman,  and  have  him  put 
the  stamps  on  the  package." 
"  Sure,  I'll  do  it,"  said  the  lad. 

When  Doctor  Henson  was  a  block  away 
he  looked  back,  and  there  the  boy  stood  as 
though  he  owned  the  city,  straight  as  a 
Northern  pine.  The  package  reached  its 
destination  safely,  and  every  one  of  the 
twenty-five  stamps  was  on  it.  By  putting 
faith  in  boys  we  make  men  out  of  them. 
None  of  us  rise  to  our  best  unless  we  are 
trusted. 

Of  this  fact  Christ's  conduct  is  a  lumi- 
nous example.  He  put  faith  in  the  un- 
worthy, and  they  were  transformed  as  by 
a  healing  touch.  He  forgave  the  sinful  and 
sent  them  away  to  sin  no  more,  and  they 
would  have  died  for  him.  He  trusted  every 
one  of  the  twelve  disciples,  and  those  who 
failed  him  were  heart-broken.  Peter  de- 
nied him,  but  alone  in  the  darkness  he  wept 
bitter  tears  of  repentance.  Judas  betrayed 
him,  but,  unable  to  live  with  conscious  be- 
trayal in  his  heart,  he  brought  back  the 
blood-money  and  went  and  hanged  himself. 
Nothing  brings  out  the  good  in  one  like 
being  trusted, 

[13] 


Zbc  Essentials  ot  Gbristiantts 

Only  those  who  believe  in  their  fellow 
men  work  for  their  betterment.  Faith  gives 
the  push  for  work.  We  believe  that  we 
can  keep  the  young  from  going  wrong;  we 
believe  that  we  can  get  bad  people  to  change 
their  ways ;  we  believe  that  we  can  improve 
social  and  economic  conditions ;  we  believe 
that  international  relations  can  be  made 
more  brotherly;  we  believe  that  Christ  has 
power  to  uplift  men  and  society ;  we  believe 
that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  gradually  be- 
ing established  in  the  world,  that  his  power 
in  men's  lives  is  increasing,  and  that  the 
kingdom  of  this  world  will  ultimately  be- 
come "  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of 
his  Christ"  (Rev.  n  :  15).  Apart  from 
such  faith  there  would  be  no  effort  to  uplift 
society.  Faith  is  the  dynamic  that  is  doing 
the  work  of  the  world. 


Faith  and  Knozvledge 

Faith  and  knowledge,  of  course,  are  never 
wholly  separated.  They  are  different 
phases  of  the  soul's  activity.  Just  as  the 
old  psychology  separated  the  soul  into  in- 
tellect, feelings,  and  will,  so  we  too  often 
separate  faith  and  knowledge.    The  newer 

[14] 


ffattb 

psychology  affirms  that,  while  it  is  con- 
venient for  study  to  separate  intellect,  feel- 
ings, and  will,  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  soul 
does  not  act  in  parts,  but  as  a  unit,  that 
every  activity  of  the  soul  has  something 
of  intellect,  something  of  feeling,  and  some- 
thing of  will.  In  like  manner,  it  is  con- 
venient to  speak  of  faith  and  knowledge 
separately;  but  no  act  of  faith  is  without 
some  knowledge,  and  no  knowledge  pro- 
ceeds far  without  the  exercise  of  faith. 
While  faith  goes  beyond  knowledge,  knowl- 
edge is  a  buttress  to  faith.  For  exam- 
ple, coupled  with  the  chemist's  faith  that 
he  can  achieve  certain  unknown  results 
is  a  certain  knowledge  of  chemical  facts 
and  laws.  Coupled  with  one's  faith  in 
people  is  a  certain  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  Coupled  with  the  faith  that  leads 
the  farmer  to  sow  this  year's  crops,  is  his 
knowledge  of  the  rains  and  harvests  of 
former  years.  Coupled  with  the  student's 
faith  that  he  can  "  make  good  "  in  college 
or  university,  is  his  knowledge  of  his  own 
past  achievements.  Coupled  also  with  our 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  our  knowledge  of  his 
character  and  work,  our  observation  of  lives 
changed  by  trusting  him,  the  testimony  of 

ti5] 


Zbc  Essentials  ot  GbrtsttanitB 

friends  to  Christ's  power  in  their  lives,  the 
great  historic  transformations  wrought  by 
Christianity,  the  church's  world-wide  en- 
deavor to  better  mankind.  Though  one 
may  not  think  through  these  considerations 
as  they  are  set  down  here,  yet  the  facts  in- 
dicated lie  in  the  background  of  our  con- 
sciousness and  are  a  support  to  faith. 

It  may  at  times  be  difficult  to  tell  where 
faith  ends  and  knowledge  begins,  and  it  is 
not  necessary  to  do  so.  The  important 
things  are  that  faith  gives  the  push  up- 
ward in  the  face  of  all  difficulties ;  it  is  the 
normal  attitude  of  strong  souls;  it  is  the 
achieving  and  conquering  power  in  life. 
Midst  all  our  ignorance,  and  notwithstand- 
ing all  mysteries  and  all  unsolved  problems, 
it  binds  us  to  God  and  links  us  to  Christ; 
it  keeps  us  forward-looking  and  upward- 
striving;  and  it  makes  the  personalities  in 
whom  we  believe,  powerful  to  transform  us 
into  their  likeness. 


Faith  as  an  Attitude 

Faith  is  the  optimistic  attitude  to  life. 
To  believe  in  God,  and  to  trust  his  justice, 
love,  and  guidance,  fills  one  with  hope  and 

[16] 


yaitb 

courage.  To  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
sent  of  God,  that  he  gives  spiritual  life  to 
men,  that  he  can  transform  the  individual, 
and  that  he  is  guiding  the  race  on  its  un- 
blazed  way  to  a  destined  goal,  makes  one 
both  a  forward-looking  and  a  present-work- 
ing man.  To  believe  in  the  redeemableness 
of  men,  even  the  worst  of  them,  and  in  the 
betterment  of  social  conditions,  however 
hopeless,  girds  one  with  power  for  heroic 
tasks.  To  believe  in  growing  goodness  in 
the  hearts  of  men,  in  the  ultimate  righting 
of  all  wrongs,  in  man's  fundamental  love  of 
righteousness,  and  in  the  possibility  of  ulti- 
mately perfecting  the  social  order,  is  to 
be  a  worker  with  God  in  redeeming  the 
world. 

In  any  undertaking,  he  who  does  not  be- 
lieve in  possible  accomplishment  is  beaten 
before  he  begins.  Belief  in  one's  own  un- 
tried powers  sets  one  to  work  and  develops 
applied  faculties.  Belief  draws  to  one  the 
faith  and  cooperation  of  others  and  unites 
their  endeavors  with  one's  own.  No  one 
loves  a  pessimist ;  no  one  follows  a  doubter. 
To  be  a  leader  of  men  one  must  be  rilled 
with  faith  that  dares  attempt  the  impos- 
sible. 


17 


Sbe  Essentials  of  Cbristtanits 

Faith  in  God  and  in  Jesus  Christ  puts  spir- 
itual "  pep  "  into  life,  gives  direction  and 
momentum  to  every  spiritual  thought,  every 
moral  impulse,  every  right  endeavor.  It 
links  with  one,  and  enlists  for  one,  both  the 
power  of  God  and  the  spiritual  power  in 
men. 

The  spiritual  work  of  the  world  has  been 
done  by  men  of  faith.  In  that  great  chap- 
ter, the  eleventh  of  Hebrews,  the  writer  gives 
a  catalog  of  the  heroes  of  faith — Abra- 
ham, Jacob,  Joseph,  Moses,  Gideon,  Barak, 
Jephthah,  Samuel,  David,  and  many  others, 
"  who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the 
violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the 
armies  of  aliens.  .  .  Others  had  trial  of  cruel 
mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover, 
of  bonds  and  imprisonments.  They  were 
stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder,  were 
tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword:  they 
wandered  about  in  sheepskins  and.goatskins  ; 
being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented;  they 
wandered  in  deserts,  and  in  mountains,  and 
in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth.    And  these 

[18] 


ffaltb 

all,  having'  received  a  good  report  through 
faith,  received  not  the  promise :  God  having 
some  better  thing  for  us,  that  they  without 
us  should  not  be  made  perfect." 

This  remarkable  tribute  to  the  unsub- 
duable  power  of  faith  could  be  duplicated  in 
our  Christian  era:  Paul,  the  Christian 
martyr  under  Roman  rule,  Savonarola, 
Luther,  Wiclif,  Ridley,  Latimer,  Knox,  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  Carey,  Judson,  Living- 
stone, and  hosts  of  others,  were  all  men 
of  unsubduable  faith.  They  "  believed 
where  they  could  not  prove."  They  at- 
tempted and  achieved  the  seemingly  impos- 
sible. Such  are  always  the  men  who  pio- 
neer the  way  to  a  larger  and  better  future 
and  usher  in  conditions  of  finer  social 
brotherhood  and  greater  economic  justice. 

Faith  and  Evolution 

Faith  is  an  evolutionary  force.  From 
what  has  been  'said,  it  is  evident  that  faith 
is  a  necessary  factor  in  social  progress.  The 
forces  of  social  evolution  are,  among  others, 
the  human  faculties — conscience,  will,  rea- 
son, feeling  (love,  hate,  envy,  jealousy,  sym- 
pathy), faith,  etc.    Among  these  forces  the 

[19] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Cbristfantts 

most  outstanding  is  faith.  As  previously 
stated,  it  is  the  pioneering  force;  it  is  like 
the  needle  which  points  the  direction  for 
the  mariner;  it  roughly  locates  the  next 
camp  on  the  journey  of  social  progress,  and 
bids  humanity  gird  up  its  loins  for  the  for- 
ward march;  it  indicates  the  direction  of 
social  betterment,  and  summons  all  the 
power  in  God  and  man  for  achievement. 

It  has  been  remarked  in  another  connec- 
tion that  in  biological  evolution  there  is 
found  in  each  species,  as  it  wanes,  rough 
indications  or  prophecies  of  what  the  next 
species  is  to  be  like,  and  thus  an  upward 
course  of  development  is  traceable  from 
species  to  species.  A  similar  fact  is  ob- 
servable in  social  evolution.  Each  century 
holds  prophecies  of  the  next  century.  Faith 
is  the  prophet.  What  man  today  believes  he 
can  do,  he  does  tomorrow ;  what  he  believes 
this  century  that  society  can  become,  it  be- 
comes next  century.  Today's  faith  indi- 
cates tomorrow's  achievement.  Yesterday 
man  believed  that  he  could  fly ;  today  he  is 
flying.  Centuries  ago  man  believed  that 
steam  could  be  made  to  do  work;  today  it 
is  driving  factories  and  mills,  hauling  trains, 
and  propelling  ships.    A  generation  ago  man 

[20] 


jfattb 

believed  that  electricity  could  be  made  to 
become  his  servant;  today  undersea  cables, 
underground  and  overhead  wires,  and  the 
very  atmosphere  the  world  around,  are  vi- 
brant with  hurrying  messages.  Not  long 
ago  nations  believed  that  kings  were  of 
divine  appointment ;  today  democracy  is 
possessing  the  world.  Yesterday  the  many 
believed  that  might  made  right,  both  gov- 
ernmentally  and  economically;  today  the 
whole  world,  with  few  exceptions,  believes 
that  every  person,  no  matter  how  weak  and 
insignificant,  has  right  to  worthful  life ;  and 
that  every  nation,  however  small  and  un- 
able to  protect  itself,  has  the  right  to  work 
out  its  own  destiny  in  its  own  place.  Not 
many  centuries  ago  most  Christians  believed 
that  Christ  came  to  save  a  few  out  of  a  fast 
perishing  world;  today  the  dominant  con- 
ception of  Christian  thinkers  is  that  he  came 
to  reconstruct  human  society  and  to  make 
this  world  a  fit  place  to  live  in.  They  re- 
gard the  hereafter  as  safe  for  all  who  do 
their  appointed  task  here.  They  are  con- 
cerned with  the  betterment  of  human  rela- 
tions, the  remaking  of  social  conditions,  the 
righting  of  economic  wrongs,  the  bringing 
of  heaven  down  to  earth,  the  transforming 

[21] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstianttE 

of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  into  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord. 

Thus  it  is  clear  that  faith  is  the  mightiest 
force  in  the  process  of  social  evolution; 
it  blazes  the  trail  to  the  higher  unknown. 
Working  with  the  other  social  forces,  it 
leads  the  way  to  the 

Far-off  divine  event 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves. 

The  outworking  of  the  social  process  al- 
ways goes  beyond  our  faith.  The  Old  Tes- 
tament prophets,  for  the  most  part,  looked 
to  Jerusalem  as  the  capital  of  the  world, 
with  the  Hebrews  as  the  dominant  people 
and  their  rule  as  national.  All,  of  course, 
was  conditioned  upon  righteousness.  But 
the  facts,  as  unfolded  in  history,  burst  the 
bounds  of  their  vision,  overflowed  their 
limited  hopes,  and  swept  away  the  barriers 
of  their  restricted  faith.  Christ  established 
a  more  glorious  kingdom  than  John  the 
Baptist  looked  forward  to,  notwithstanding 
that  John  was  his  prophet  and  forerunner. 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  freedom  that  transcended  their  fairest 
dreams.  Carey,  Judson,  Moffat,  and  Liv- 
ingstone kindled  a  missionary  zeal   in  the 

[22] 


Jfaitb 

world  that  has  outflamed  their  highest  ex- 
pectations, and  taken  a  social  and  economic 
breadth  far  beyond  their  vision.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  world  war,  notwithstanding  all 
its  horrors,  will  work  great  good.  Many 
items  could  even  now  be  pointed  out.  But 
if  history  repeats  itself — always  with  a  dif- 
ference— our  feeble  faith  gives  but  faintest 
intimation  of  the  world-wide  changes  that 
will  ensue,  and  the  multiple  unseen  bless- 
ings that  will  follow.  The  need  and  the 
duty  of  the  hour  is  faith.  It  gives  cour- 
age to  fight,  self-sacrifice  to  spend,  patriot- 
ism to  suffer,  and  renunciation  to  die,  if 
need  be,  in  order  that  better,  freer,  larger 
life  than  has  been  given  to  us  may  be  the 
portion  of  those  who  shall  come  after  us. 

Our  faith  is  not  in  dead  saints'  bones, 

In  altars  of  vain  sacrifice; 
Nor  is  it  in  the  stately  stones 

That  rise  in  beauty  toward  the  skies. 

Our  faith  is  built  on  living  men, 
With  singing  blood  and  minds  alert; 

Strong  men,  who  fall  to  rise  again, 
Who  strive  and  bleed  with  courage  girt. 

We  would  not  spurn  the  ancient  lore, 
The  prophet's  word  or  psalmist's  prayer; 

[23] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Cbrtstianttg 

But,   lo!   our   Leader   goes   before, 
Tomorrow's  battles  to  prepare. 

Our  faith  is  in  a  Christ  who  walks 
With  men  today,  in  street  and  mart; 

Who  gives  good  cheer,  who  thinks  and  talks 
With  those  who  seek  him  with  the  heart. 

—Thomas  Curtis  Clark,  "  The  Faith  of  Christ's 
Freemen." 


[24] 


in 

0O& 


GOD 


ALL  knowledge,  even  of  common  thing's, 
is  partial ;  we  are  learners.  Problems 
bristle  everywhere.  How  is  it  that  two 
gases,  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  make  water? 
Is  there  as  yet  no  answer  to  the  agelong 
query,  Why  does  grass  make  wool  on  a 
sheep,  hair  on  a  cow,  bristles  on  a  pig,  and 
feathers  on  a  chicken?  Why  does  food 
sustain  life?  Why  does  heat  make  vegeta- 
tion grow,  and  frost  retard  its  growing? 
Why  do  we  love  some  people  and  not 
others?  Why  is  everybody  not  good? 
Why  do  we  so  often  want  to  do  what  rea- 
son tells  us  we  should  not  do? 

To  some  of  these  questions  we  might 
venture  answers,  but  other  questions  would 
push  the  problems  still  farther  back.  There 
is  no  ultimate  explanation.  We  are  com- 
pelled to  stop  with  a  simple  statement  of 
fact — that  things  are  so  and  so,  that  they 
do  occur.  Just  as  the  telescope,  while  bring- 
ing distant  stars  into  clear  view,   reveals 


*/ 


Gbe  J&eeentiaie  ot  CbrtsttanitB 

others  dimly  seen  in  the  far  distance,  so 
every  increment  of  knowledge,  while  reveal- 
ing more  facts,  also  makes  apparent  more 
mysteries. 

On  the  threshold  of  our  study  of  God  it  is 
needful  to  recognize  that  the  acquiring  of 
knowledge  is  a  continuous  process.  We 
but  stultify  ourselves,  and  often  close  the 
door  of  our  minds,  by  insisting  upon  ulti- 
mate solutions  to  our  problems.  It  is  well, 
of  course,  to  solve  all  possible  problems; 
but  in  our  thought  of  God  it  is  fundamental 
to  recognize  the  magnitude  of  the  task  in- 
volved when  we  seek  to  go  beyond  an 
every-day  working  knowledge  and  plunge 
into  the  field  of  philosophy.  Our  knowl- 
edge, both  of  the  individual  and  of  the  race, 
is  a  growth.  How  much  more  our  knowl- 
edge of  God! 

A  man's  conception  of  God  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  a  child's  conception;  and  the 
twentieth-century  conception  is  vastly  dif- 
ferent from  the  first-century  conception. 
Early  races  worshiped  fetishes.  They 
conceived  of  powers,  both  malignant  and 
beneficent,  in  sticks,  stones,  trinkets,  birds, 
etc.  Later  races  peopled  hills,  valleys,  lakes, 
streams,  woods,  fields,  springs,  and  other 

T  28I 


places,  with  spirits.  Still  other  races  wor- 
shiped sun,  moon,  and  stars — "  all  the 
hosts  of  heaven."  Greeks,  Romans,  and 
other  peoples,  worshiped  ancestral  spirits. 
By  most  races  gods  were  represented  by,  or 
located  in,  images  made  by  men's  hands. 
American  Indians  worshiped  the  Great 
Spirit — not  a  poor  conception  of  God,  were 
it  divorced  from  numerous  gross  supersti- 
tions. The  early  Hebrews  worshiped  Jeho- 
vah, but  as  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  only, 
while  they  believed  in  Isis  and  Osiris  as 
gods  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  sun-god  and 
moon-god  as  gods  of  the  Babylonians. 
Thus  the  knowing  of  God  is  a  long,  slow 
process.  It  was  a  great  step  forward  when 
Hebrew  prophets  declared  that  the  gods  of 
the  nations  were  idols,  and  that  Jehovah 
was  the  God  of  the  whole  world.  ( I  Chron. 
1 6  :  26.)  Only  in  comparatively  recent 
times  has  God  been  worshiped  as  righteous, 
and  as  demanding  righteousness  in  his  wor- 
shipers. Heathen  gods,  as  we  call  them,  had 
human  passions — jealousy,  hate,  cruelty, 
envy,  lust,  vindictiveness,  etc.  Much 
heathen  worship  was  due  to  fear.  It 
sought  to  placate  the  anger  of  the  gods  and 
to  ward  off  their  cruelty.    Worship  on  "  the 

[29] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstfanitB 

high  places/'  to  which  the  Hebrews  often 
turned  aside,  was  accompanied  with  licen- 
tious orgies.  (Ezek.  16  :  29-39.)  Even  the 
Hebrews,  spiritually  the  most  highly  en- 
dowed, and  religiously  the  best  trained  of 
all  races,  found  the  acquisition  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  both  a  gradual  and  a  slow 
process.  Of  this  fact  the  Old  Testament  it- 
self bears  eloquent  testimony. 

Some  may  object  that  this  simply  makes 
God  a  big  man,  predicating  of  him  human 
qualities  raised  to  the  highest  degree.  This 
is  true,  and  ought  to  be  true.  It  is  in- 
evitable from  the  nature  of  our  thought 
processes.  We  must  interpret  God  in  terms 
of  experience.  No  other  terms  are  avail- 
able to  us,  for  we  cannot  understand  any 
other.  If  we  should  make  God  only  force, 
the  content  of  the  idea  would  necessarily  be 
our  experience  of  force  raised  to  the  high- 
est power;  if  law,  our  experience  of  law 
imagined  as  perfect;  if  personality,  our  ex- 
perience of  persons  raised  to  the  degree  of 
limitless  perfection. 

Naturally,  and  all  but  inevitably,  we  think 
of  God  as  a  person.  We  cannot  think  of 
him  as  less  than  ourselves ;  we  think,  sym- 
pathize, love,  regard  right  and  wrong,  value 

[30] 


<3oD 

truth  and  justice,  etc.  The  best  we  can  do 
is  to  predicate  of  God  in  absolute  degree 
the  qualities  we  know  in  ourselves. 

Do  we,  then,  know  God  in  fact?  and  do 
we  know  him  as  he  is?  We  know  him  as 
we  know  all  persons,  and  by  the  same 
means. 

We  see  each  other's  bodies,  but  cannot 
see  each  other's  spirits;  yet  we  know  each 
other's  thoughts,  purposes,  and  acts.  Like- 
wise, we  see  the  world  in  which  we  live,  and 
something  of  the  universe  which  surrounds 
it,  and  by  these  we  come  to  know  something 
of  God's  thoughts,  purposes,  and  acts. 

We  accept  each  other  as  acquaintances, 
we  become  friends,  we  love  each  other,  we 
have  fellowship  together.  The  relation  is 
one  between  spirit  and  spirit.  We  may  re- 
fuse acquaintance  and  turn  from  each  other 
if  we  will,  thus  making  it  impossible  to 
know  each  other  in  experience,  or  we  can 
turn  gladly  toward  each  other  and  know 
each  other  in  experience  ever  more  fully. 

In  like  manner  we  may  know  God  in  ex- 
perience. If  we  turn  toward  him  in  atti- 
tude of  soul,  if  we  accept  and  cultivate  his 
acquaintance,  there  come  knowledge  of  him, 
love   for  him,   fellowship,   confidence,   and 

[31] 


vibe  Eseenttals  of  Cbristtamtg 

trust,  the  same  as  in  our  acquaintance  with 
individuals. 

It  thus  becomes  evident  why  the  know- 
ing of  God  is  a  gradual  process.  A  peo- 
ple of  low  ethical  standards  like  the  As- 
syrians, for  example,  could  not  conceive  of 
a  very  ethical  God.  When  the  highest 
ethics  of  a  people  is  "  an  eye  for  an  eye 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  their  god  will  be 
one  of  vengeance.  But  when  ethics  have 
advanced  to  love  of  enemies,  the  god  will 
be  one  of  love  and  mercy.  In  a  word, 
man's  conception  of  the  character  of  God 
advances  with  advancement  in  human  ethics. 
It  is  current  ethics  idealized.  As  ethics 
rise  from  lower  to  higher,  led  upward  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  working  in  the  hearts 
of  men,  man's  conception  of  God  unfolds. 
Erroneous  conceptions  of  God  drop  off  as 
false  ideas  of  character  and  conduct  are 
left  behind.  Worthier  conceptions  supplant 
them  as  more  ethical  character  develops. 

This  long,  tedious  racial  process  of  com- 
ing to  the  knowledge  of  God  is  both  natu- 
ral and  inevitable.  It  could  not  be  other- 
wise, not  because  God  cannot  reveal  himself 
to  men,  but  because  men,  from  their  very 
nature,  cannot  apprehend,  except  gradually, 

[32] 


<5ofc 

the  knowledge  of  God.  The  race  grows  in 
capacity  like  a  child.  Higher  mathematics 
are  not  taught  in  the  kindergarten,  not  be- 
cause the  instructor  cannot  teach  them,  but 
because  children  are  not  mature  enough  to 
understand  them.  Racial  capacity,  like  in- 
dividual capacity,  grows.  To  every  increase 
of  knowledge  there  is  a  "  fulness  of  time," 
just  as  there  was  a  fulness  of  time  to  the 
coming  of  Christ.  (Gal.  4:4.)  Even 
Christ  could  not  tell  his  disciples  "  many 
things  " ;  the  time  was  not  ripe ;  their  ex- 
periences were  not  adequate  to  enable  them 
to  understand.  At  the  close  of  his  minis- 
try he  said  to  them,  "  I  have  yet  many  things 
to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them 
now"  (John  16  :  12).  They  could  not 
know  the  things  indicated  until  they  had 
grown  up  to  them  and  been  persuaded  of 
them  through  experience.  Both  to  the  in- 
dividual and  to  the  race  the  knowledge  of 
God  comes  gradually. 

This  simple  fact  should  make  plain  to 
every  one  that  he  is  destined  to  live  with 
problems  about  God,  problems  that  he  will 
never  wholly  solve.  Were  one  to  give  his 
whole  time  and  thought  to  the  matter,  he 
could  hope  at  most  to  add  only  his  little  bit 

c  [  33  ] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstlanltB 

to  the  solution  of  the  agelong  problems 
which,  in  one  form  or  another,  have  been  in 
the  minds  of  men  from  the  beginning. 

The  really  valuable  conception  of  God  is 
one  that  moves  us  to  action.  Knowledge 
ignored  in  action  has  no  significance  for 
experience.  It  lacks  evolutionary  dynamic. 
Instead  of  helping  the  race  forward  it 
leaves  it  with  an  intensified  habit  of  inertia. 
Neither  the  individual  nor  the  race  can 
take  in  any  greater  knowledge  of  God  than 
it  will  live  out.  Knowing,  moreover,  as 
Christ  said,  comes  by  doing.  The  knowl- 
edge of  God,  under  the  leading  of  the 
Spirit,  must  be  literally  battered  out  of  ex- 
perience. "  He  that  willeth  to  do  his  will 
shall  know  of  the  teaching"  (John  7  :  17). 

It  becomes  apparent,  then,  that  the  matter 
of  supreme  importance  is  not  to  solve  all 
problems  about  God,  but  to  begin  doing 
God's  will  as  far  as  one  knows  it.  More 
light  comes  by  following  the  light  one  has. 

A  Universal  Method 

This  method  of  knowing  is  not  peculiar 
to  religion.  It  is  the  method  in  all  fields 
of  knowledge.    An  experiment  in  the  chem- 

[34] 


ical  laboratory  gives  us  knowledge  that  we 
can  secure  in  no  other  way.  There  is  just 
one  way  to  learn  to  swim,  and  that  is  to 
swim;  one  way  to  learn  music,  and  that  is 
to  practise;  one  way  to  learn  to  farm,  and 
that  is  to  have  experience  with  the  soil. 
To  be  sure,  in  all  these  cases  we  get  help 
from  books  and  teachers,  but  the  books 
themselves  come  from  experience.  More- 
over, all  that  is  learned  from  books  and 
teachers  we  take  on  faith.  We  do  not  really 
know  for  ourselves  until  we  have  lived 
through  the  experience.  How  much  can 
one  tell  another  of  love,  sorrow,  jealousy, 
or  hate?  In  order  to  know  these  passions 
we  must  experience  them.  A  lover  is 
thought  silly  by  those  who  have  never  been 
in  love,  while  a  little  experience  is  a  de- 
cided illumination,  and  brings  us  to  knowl- 
edge. Mother-love  and  father-love  can  be 
known  only  by  fathers  and  mothers.  Hus- 
band and  wife  are  a  constant  revelation  to 
each  other  because  they  live  together  and 
love  each  other.  The  extreme  depth  of 
either's  personality  is  never  sounded  by  the 
other.  New  beauties  are  revealed  daily. 
New  circumstances  uncover  unsuspected 
riches  of  devotion;  and  the  harder  the  cir- 

[35] 


Gbe  ^essentials  of  CbristianttB 

cumstances  the  greater  is  the  beauty  of 
character  unfolded.  In  a  word,  they  come 
to  know  each  other  by  living  together  and 
having  experience  of  each  other. 

The  way  to  know  God  is  to  experience 
him,  to  live  and  work  with  him,  to  love 
him  and  do  his  will.  This  fact  Christ  rec- 
ognized when,  refusing  to  answer  numer- 
ous inquiries,  he  said  to  men,  "  Follow  me." 
In  no  other  way  could  they  know  him. 

Building  Moral  Character 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  the  highest 
moral  character  possible  at  any  given  time 
lies  in  doing  God's  will  as  one  understands 
it.  We  often  marvel,  and  sometimes  really 
shudder,  at  the  savage  cruelty  of  Old  Tes- 
tament wars.  Men,  women,  and  children 
are  ruthlessly  slain  by  the  Hebrews  in  bat- 
tle— the  very  thing  that  we  have  denounced 
as  a  stain  upon  Christian  civilization  in  the 
world  war.  Yet  from  these  cruel  battles  the 
Hebrews  returned  rejoicing  in  Jehovah  as 
the  God  of  battles,  never  doubting  that  in 
their  ruthless  slaughter  they  were  doing 
God's  will. 

These  cruel  ideas  were  the  ideas  of  the 

[36] 


<5ofc 

age.  All  nations  held  them  and  practised 
them.  Moreover,  all  nations  regarded  their 
gods  as  going  before  them  in  war  and  giv- 
ing victory  in  battle  if  they  were  strong 
enough  to  do  so. 

At  no  time  do  people  rise  very  far 
above  their  age.  The  particular  features 
which  any  battle  takes  on  depend  on  the 
ideas  of  the  age  in  which  it  is  fought. 
Elijah  slew  with  his  own  hands  the  four 
hundred  prophets  of  Baal,  and  regarded  the 
deed  as  a  great  triumph  for  Jehovah, 
(i  Kings  18  :  17-40.)  We  live  in  an  age 
which  condemns  persecution  for  religious 
beliefs  and  practices ;  and  such  a  slaughter 
for  such  a  purpose,  we  should  regard  as 
fiendish.  Samuel  condemns  Saul  unspar- 
ingly for  not  utterly  destroying  the  sheep 
and  cattle  of  the  Amalekites,  in  addition  to 
the  Amalekites  themselves,  big  and  little, 
young  and  old,  men  and  women.  (1  Sam. 
15  :  io,f.)  We  should  regard  the  doing  of 
the  same  things,  not  only  as  wanton  cruelty, 
but  as  a  wicked  waste  of  substance.  Paul 
thought  that  he  did  God  service  by  per- 
secuting the  church.  (Acts  26  :  9.) 

The  important  thing  is  not  the  form  of 
the  battle  we  fight.    That  is  determined  by 

[37] 


Sbe  ^essentials  of  CbristianttB 

the  ideas  of  the  age,  and  also,  as  in  Paul's 
case,  by  personal  ideas.  Both  sets  of  ideas 
change,  the  first  by  the  progressing  age, 
and  the  second  by  the  individual's  progress- 
ing experience.  The  vitally  important  mat- 
ter is  that  we  consciously  fight  God's  battles 
as  we  see  them.  These  are  not  the  same  in 
any  two  ages.  The  Christian  centuries,  not 
to  go  farther  back,  have  seen  battles  with 
heathenism,  battles  over  doctrines,  reforma- 
tion battles,  slavery  battles,  temperance  bat- 
tles, and  many  others.  Some  battles,  of 
course,  are  fought  out,  but  others  take  their 
places.  At  the  present  hour,  for  example, 
the  Christian  emphasis  is  not  upon  doctrine 
but  upon  ethics  and  service;  not  upon  be- 
ing saved  in  the  kingdom  of  God  hereafter, 
but  upon  building  the  kingdom  of  God 
here,  a  kingdom  that  shall  be  socially,  eco- 
nomically, and  internationally  righteous.  In 
these  present-day  problems  there  are  just  as 
real  battles  as  ever  were  fought  from  trench 
and  submarine.  We  fight  to  bring  our- 
selves to  God's  will  as  we  see  it;  and  we 
fight  to  get  God's  will,  as  we  see  it,  done  in 
society. 

In  thus  fighting  God's  battles,  we  doubt- 
less are  as  blind  in  our  way  as  were  the 

[38] 


<3ofc 

heroes  of  the  Old  Testament  in  theirs, 
though  on  a  higher  plane.  We  doubtless 
make  as  many  mistakes  in  regard  to  what 
God's  will  is  as  they  did.  But  in  progres- 
sive knowledge,  as  formerly  in  progressive 
revelation,  man  is  shut  up  to  just  one  thing, 
viz.,  to  the  fighting  of  God's  battles  as  he 
sees  them.  Men  must  fight  according  to 
their  light,  and  according  to  the  light  of 
their  age.  This  is  both  the  highest  possible 
ethics  for  the  moment,  and  also  the  con- 
dition of  rising  to  higher  ethics  in  the 
future.  To  do  less  is  to  lower  one's  ethical 
standard  and  to  be  untrue  to  one's  age,  for 
it  is  to  turn  one's  back  on  God. 

The  knowledge  of  God,  then,  is  ever  par- 
tial, both  for  the  age  and  for  the  individual. 
It  comes  to  both  as  it  is  welcomed  in  ex- 
perience; and  it  is  experienced  by  doing 
God's  will  according  to  one's  light.  Our 
experience  of  God  is  most  intense  when  we 
consciously  fight  his  battles,  both  within 
ourselves  and  for  our  generation. 

Christ  the  Revelation  of  God 

The  clearest  and  fullest  knowledge  of 
God  comes  to  us,  of  course,  in  Jesus  Christ. 

[39] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  CbtisttanitE 

The  author  once  asked  a  Christian  woman, 
who  sang  for  a  time  in  a  Jewish  synagogue, 
what  idea  of  God  the  services  gave  her. 
She  replied  that  God  seemed  "  so  far  away  " 
that  she  could  get  no  "  heart-grip,"  that  God 
seemed  to  be  wholly  "  intellectualized." 
Recall  in  this  connection  the  words  of  Paul, 
"  But  now,  in  Christ  Jesus,  ye  that  once 
were  far  off,  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of 
Christ"  (Eph.  2  :  13).  I  presume  that  we 
who  are  accustomed  to  think  of  God  in 
terms  of  Christ  little  realize  how  cold  and 
distant  God  would  be  to  us  but  for  the  fact 
that  we  habitually  think  of  him  through  the 
medium  of  Christ's  sympathetic  personality 
and  loving  ministry. 

Emphasis  must  here  rest  upon  the  fact 
that  Christ  is  a  person,  and  reveals  God's 
personal  qualities.  He  does  not  leave  us 
with  a  God  that  is  simply  force  or  law.  He 
always  speaks  of  God  as  a  person.  "  He 
that  hath  seen  me,"  he  says,  "  hath  seen  the 
Father"  (John  14:9).  "I  and  my 
Father  are  one"  (John  10:  30).  He 
speaks  of  the  Father's  will,  love,  and  watch- 
care — all  expressive  of  personality. 

Christ  reveals  God  as  a  loving  personal- 
ity.   Love  is  contained  in  the  name  Father : 

[40] 


<3ofc 

in  the  teaching  that  God  so  loved  that  he 
sent  Christ;  in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal 
Son  (Luke  15  :  11-32)  ;  in  all  Christ's  ex- 
hortations to  prayer;  in  fact,  it  suffuses  all 
Christ's  teachings  and  permeates  his  every 
attitude. 

Christ  reveals  God  as  righteous,  and  as 
demanding  righteousness  in  men.  All  his 
teachings  about  rewards  and  punishments 
speak  of  God's  justice.  The  righteous  are 
rewarded ;  the  wicked  are  punished.  Nota- 
ble teachings  on  this  point  are  the  parables 
of  Dives  and  Lazarus  (Luke  16  :  19-31) 
and  the  Last  Judgment  (Matt.  25  :  31-46), 
in  which  the  righteous  are  gathered  on  the 
right  hand  and  the  wicked  on  the  left. 

Christ  reveals  God  as  forgiving.  He  bids 
his  disciples  pray,  "  Forgive  us  our  debts 
as  we  forgive  our  debtors."  To  those  who 
came  to  him  for  physical  healing  he  some- 
times said,  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee  " 
(Matt.  9:2).  And  he  insisted  that  God 
was  more  willing  to  forgive  us  our  sins  than 
fathers  to  forgive  their  children. 

Christ  reveals  God  as  having  a  peculiarly 
sympathetic  and  tender  care  for  men.  This 
teaching  lies  in  the  parables  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  (John  10)  and  the  Prodigal  Son 

[41] 


Gbe  JEsscntiale  ot  Cbrtetianits 

(Luke  15  :  11-32);  in  such  passages  as 
"  The  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  num- 
bered. Fear  not  therefore :  ye  are  of  more 
value  than  many  sparrows  "  (Luke  12  :  7)  ; 
in  all  exhortations  to  prayer,  and  in  such 
definite  statements  as  "  If  ye  then,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them 
that  ask  him"  (Matt.  7  :  11). 

Christ  reveals  God  as  hopeful  of  men. 
He  made  himself  the  champion  of  the  sin- 
ful and,  by  his  sympathy,  faith,  and  love, 
won  them  to  righteousness.  He  said  that 
he  came,  not  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sin- 
ners to  repentance;  to  heal,  not  the  well, 
but  the  sick.  (Luke  5  :  31,  32.) 

Christ  reveals  God  as  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. He  did  not  turn  away  from  any  class, 
but  plainly  said,  "  For  whosoever  shall  do 
the  will  of  God,  the  same  is  my  brother, 
and  my  sister,  and  mother  "  (Mark  3  :  35). 
He  associated  with  the  rich  and  learned  as 
freely  as  with  the  poor  and  ignorant.  He 
valued  man  as  man,  and  not  for  any  trap- 
pings that  man  might  possess.  He  insisted 
that  people  were  no  more  and  no  less  than 
what  they  were   at  heart.     He  inveighed 

[42] 


<3ofc 

against  mere  formal  worship  and  parade  of 
righteousness. 

Christ  revealed  God  as  yearning  and 
striving  to  bring  men  into  fellowship  with 
himself.  Thus  only  could  they  secure 
worthful,  abounding  life.  "  I  am  come,"  he 
said,  "  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly  "  (John 
10  :  10).  He  pictured  the  kingdom  of 
God,  which  he  bade  men  enter,  as  a  wed- 
ding (Matt.  22  :  2-14),  a  feast  (Luke  14  : 
16-24),  a  costly  pearl  (Matt.  13  :  45,  46), 
a  rich  treasure  (Matt.  13  :  44),  and,  above 
all,  as  eternal  life.  (John  3  :  16.) 

The  Essential  Things 

Christ  does  not  give  us  a  complete  revela- 
tion of  God,  but  only  such  a  revelation  as 
man  needs  and  craves,  a  revelation  that 
awakens  man  to  God's  love,  makes  him 
aware  of  God's  companionship,  and  sets 
him  to  work  with  God. 

Our  scientific  and  philosophic  studies, 
while  displacing  nothing  of  Christ's  revela- 
tion, have  corrected  many  errors  which  had 
accumulated  about  his  teachings.  No  longer 
do  we  think  of  God  as  an  absentee  land- 


43 


Sbe  Bssenttals  of  CbtietianitB 

lord,  but  rather  as  an  immanent  Spirit.  No 
longer  do  we  view  the  universe  as  run  by 
self-acting  laws,  but  rather  by  the  imme- 
diate activity  of  divine  energy.  No  longer 
do  we  regard  the  world  as  created  complete 
at  the  beginning,  but  as  being  in  a  continu- 
ous process  of  creation.  Science  and  phi- 
losophy corroborate  John  when,  in  his 
vision,  he  hears  God  saying,  "  Behold !  I 
make  all  things  new."  The  heavens  and 
the  earth,  man  and  society,  are  in  a  con- 
tinuous process  of  renewal. 

Aside  from  his  relation  to  man  as  Father, 
God  has  relations  to  the  physical  universe, 
to  natural  law,  to  the  whole  process  of 
creation.  About  these  relations,  of  course, 
we  may  speculate,  and  we  shall  doubtless 
learn  more  about  them  as  the  centuries 
sweep  on.  Our  philosophy  has  always  been 
a  changing  thing.  It  will  continue  to 
change,  and,  we  trust,  to  improve.  We 
should  strive  for  a  progressive  philosophy 
of  God,  just  as  we  strive  for  progressive 
knowledge  in  all  fields  of  learning.  Knowl- 
edge of  God  is  not,  and  should  not  be,  a 
fixed  and  finished  product,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, a  growing  process.  "  We  know  now 
in  part  " ;  but  then — more  fully. 

[44] 


(BoO 

Christ,  however,  avoids  the  philosophical 
problems  which  so  often  trouble  us.  He 
does  not  discuss  God's  methods  in  creation, 
his  relation  to  natural  laws,  or  such  theo- 
logical questions  as  omnipotence,  omni- 
presence, God's  foreknowledge  and  man's 
free  will,  and  a  hundred  other  questions 
that  we  are  curious  about.  Christ  gives  us 
a  helpful,  working  conception  of  a  God 
that  we  can  live  with,  work  with,  love, 
trust,  and  obey — a  personal,  loving,  right- 
eous, and  forgiving  God;  a  God  of  sym- 
pathy and  tender  compassion,  who  is  hope- 
ful of  man  at  his  worst,  and  no  respecter  of 
persons ;  a  God  who  looks,  not  on  the  out- 
ward appearance,  but  on  the  heart,  and  is 
ever  working  to  bring  man  to  himself  that 
he  may  bless  him,  impart  himself  to  him, 
and  bring  him  into  the  fulness  of  joyful, 
abounding  life. 

We  serve  no  God  whose  work  is  done, 
Who  rests  within  his  firmament, 

But  one  whose  task  is  but  begun, 
Who  toils  today,  with  power  unspent. 

— T.  C.  Clark,  "  The  Faith  of  Christ's  Free- 
men." 


[451 


WW 
Cbrist 


CHRIST 


A  YOUNG  man  once  said  to  the  writer, 
"  God's  relation  to  us  would  be  simple 
enough  if  Jesus  Christ  had  just  kept  out." 
This  remark  indicated,  not  that  he  under- 
stood God  apart  from  Christ,  for  he  had 
given  the  subject  little  thought,  but  that 
the  nearer  the  problem  was  brought  to  him 
the  more  difficulty  he  found  with  it.  A 
landscape  is  simple  enough  when  far  enough 
away,  but  the  nearer  we  approach  the  more 
diversified  are  its  objects,  and  the  more  mul- 
tiple and  intricate  their  relations.  Many 
things  now  complex  would  have  remained 
simple  if  telescopes  and  microscopes  had  not 
been  invented.  Christ  brings  more  prob- 
lems than  does  God  because  he  brings  God 
near  and  reveals  new  relations. 

Knowing  Christ 

It  is  natural  that  many  should  have  dif- 
ficulties in  understanding  Christ.  During  a 
certain  period  of  mental  development  the 

d  [49] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  CbrfattanitB 

mind  seeks  to  fathom  everything.  While 
varying  in  different  persons,  this  period, 
roughly  speaking,  embraces  the  years  be- 
tween seventeen  and  twenty-five.  During 
this  time  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
hold  steady,  and  to  realize  that  the  mind 
simply  outgrows  some  things.  As  years 
pass  we  come  upon  so  much  that  we  cannot 
fathom,  so  many  things  that  the  ages  have 
worked  on  and  have  not  fathomed,  that  we 
become  reconciled  to  live  with  mysteries, 
and  are  glad  to  walk  by  faith  where  before 
we  demanded  sight. 

Of  one  thing  we  should  be  certain,  that 
our  effort  to  do  the  will  of  Christ  is  always 
stronger  than  our  effort  to  understand 
Christ.  Christ  himself  says,  "  He  that  will- 
eth.to  do  his  will,  shall  know  of  the  teach- 
ing*" (John  7  :  17).  Unwillingness  to  do 
Christ's  will  clouds  the  mind.  It  invites 
and  raises  difficulties  which,  but  for  such 
unwillingness,  faith  and  love  and  eager- 
ness to  serve  would  either  pierce  through 
or  brush  aside. 

Personality  is  never  fully  understood,  and 
Christ  is  a  person.  Even  an  ordinary  per- 
son is  a  continuous  revelation.  The  greater 
one's  powers,  the  less  one  is  understood. 

[So] 


Cbriat 

The  genius  is  a  puzzle  to  the  rest  of  us. 
That  is  the  reason  we  call  him  a  genius. 
The  term  is  a  cloak  for  our  ignorance.  The 
more  of  a  genius  he  is,  the  more  of  a  puzzle 
he  is. 

It  is  common  for  those  who  find  mys- 
teries in  Christ  to  say,  what  is  self-evident 
to  all,  that  Christ  is  more  than  a  man.  But 
to  say  this  is  to  admit  ourselves  shut  out 
from  understanding  all  that  lies  in  the 
word  "  more."  Man  can  understand  only 
what  comes  within  his  own  experience,  or 
what  is  analogous  thereto.  He  may,  how- 
ever, have  faith  in  what  transcends  experi- 
ence. 

Our  main  difficulty,  however,  lies,  not  in 
the  fact  that  we  cannot  understand  Christ, 
but  rather  in  our  dissatisfaction  with  theol- 
ogies about  him.  No  doubt  we  ought  to 
be  dissatisfied  with  them.  Each  century 
has  constructed  its  theology  of  Christ  on 
the  basis  of  current  types  of  philosophy, 
government,  social  practice,  and  forms  of 
worship.  No  century  could  or  can  do  other- 
wise. 

Explanations  of  Christ  have  changed 
from  century  to  century,  and  ought  to 
change.     Christ  promises  the  Holy  Spirit 

[51] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Gbttsttantts 

to  take  of  the  things  of  himself  and  reveal 
them  to  men  (John  16  :  14) ;  but  Christ  re- 
mains the  same;  his  relations  to  us  do  not 
change.  Before  Christ  came  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  had  him  defined,  and  even  had  his 
program  arranged.  Their  hatred  of  him 
and  opposition  to  him  were  due  to  the  fact 
that  he  neither  fitted  their  definitions  nor 
would  follow  their  program. 

If  we  had  Christ  all  understood  and  de- 
fined today,  he  would  shatter  our  defini- 
tions and  transcend  the  bounds  of  our  un- 
derstanding tomorrow.  He  could  not  be 
the  leader  of  human  progress  unless  he  did 
so.  He  has  been  doing  this  through  all  the 
Christian  centuries,  and  for  this  reason  the 
centuries  have  been  growing  toward  him. 
A  Christ  pent  up,  defined,  understood,  could 
not  be  the  "  captain  of  our  salvation  "  (Heb. 
2  :  10),  leading  humanity  toward  God  and 
unfolding  the  divine  life  of  God  in  man. 

It  is  of  utmost  importance,  then,  to  note 
carefully  the  methods  of  knowing  persons, 
remembering  meanwhile  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  a  person. 

1.  We  come  to  understand  persons  by 
living  with  them.  Go  on  a  month's  camp- 
ing trip  with  a  man,  and  you  will  learn 

[52] 


Cbriat 

much  about  him  that  you  did  not  know  be- 
fore. If  two  women  would  really  know  each 
other,  let  them  live  together  in  the  same 
house.  People  are  acquainted  when  they 
marry,  and  yet  they  really  know  very  little 
of  each  other.  Married  life,  as  previously 
stated,  is  a  continuous  revelation.  When 
husband  and  wife  have  spent  fifty  years  to- 
gether, and  children  and  grandchildren 
gather  at  the  old  home  to  celebrate  their 
golden  wedding,  they  know  each  other  as 
they  could  not  know  each  other  on  their 
wedding-day.  Fifty  years  of  companion- 
ship in  joy  and  sorrow,  disappointment  and 
triumph,  success  and  failure,  have  been  a 
continuous  revelation  of  each  to  the  other; 
and  in  no-  other  way  is  it  possible  for  them 
to  become  thus  known  to  each  other.  Ex- 
planations of  personality  would  be  trivial 
and  unavailing. 

It  becomes  apparent,  then,  how  sensible 
and  true  to  the  laws  of  life  Christ's  method 
was  when,  refusing  all  explanations  of  him- 
self, he  simply  said  to  those  who  would  be 
disciples,  "  Follow  me  " ;  that  is,  be  learn- 
ers through  companionship  with  me. 

2.  We  come  to  know  by  experience.  No 
one  can  explain  his  experience  to  another 

[53] 


Zbc  Essentials  of  Christianity 

who  has  not  had  the  same  or  like  experience. 
A  painting,  a  sunset,  a  landscape,  find  no 
adequate  expression  in  words.  They  must 
be  experienced.  Only  those  who  have  seen 
them  understand  each  other  when  words 
are  used  to  describe  them.  Years  ago  a 
young  man,  standing  among  the  rock-chips 
of  a  petrified  forest  in  Arizona,  which  had 
just  been  wet  by  a  shower  of  rain  that 
made  all  the  colors  live,  could  not  hold 
back  the  tears.  Only  those  with  artistic 
temperament,  and  to  whom  like  experiences 
were  possible,  could  understand  such  tears. 
To  others  they  would  seem  weak  and  fool- 
ish. Only  the  lover  can  understand  a  lover. 
Only  the  converted  man  is  in  position  to 
understand  the  converted  man — his  new 
love,  his  changed  purposes,  his  willing  self- 
denial. 

On  the  same  principles,  and  by  the  same 
laws  of  our  nature,  we  understand  Christ 
as  we  experience  what  Christ  experienced — 
obedience  to  the  Father;  confidence  in  the 
Father's  love;  love  for  the  sinful;  self- 
giving  for  the  undeserving;  disappoint- 
ment in  friends ;  hatred  by  enemies  ;  patience 
with  the  dull  and  indifferent;  yearning 
desire    and    strenuous    endeavor    to    bring 

[54] 


Cbriat 

the  sinful  and  suffering  into  the  forgiv- 
ing love  of  God;  being  misunderstood, 
even  by  disciples,  maligned,  abused,  and  at 
length  crucified  for  obeying  God  and  loving- 
men.  In  proportion  as  we  pass  through 
these  experiences,  not  to  mention  deeper 
and  more  mysterious  ones,  may  we  hope  to 
understand  Christ. 

3.  We  understand  persons  as  zve  become 
like  them.  Artists  understand  artists. 
Mothers  understand  mothers.  Sinners  un- 
derstand sinners.  The  righteous  under- 
stand the  righteous — their  motives,  pur- 
poses, love,  and  service. 

Surely,  then,  the  folly  of  seeking  satis- 
factory explanations  of  Christ,  explanations 
that  construe  his  personality  to  our  philos- 
ophy, and  his  vital  processes  to  our  logic,  is 
evident.  It  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  life 
to  understand  Christ  except  as  we  follow 
him,  live  with  him,  enter  into  his  experi- 
ences, love  him,  and  work  with  him.  To 
know  Christ  is  a  lifelong  process.  Even 
at  the  end  of  life,  though  life  be  long,  we 
know,  as  Paul  said,  "  in  part."  It  is  prom- 
ised, however,  that  in  the  eternal  eons  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is — when  we  shall  have 
become  like  him.  (1  John  3:2.) 

[55] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrlstianitE 

A  Scientific  Method 

This  method  of  knowing  Christ  is  not 
only  Christ's  own  method,  but  also  the 
scientific  method. 

i.  Like  all  scientific  methods,  it  involves 
a  venture  of  faith.  Pupils  believe  in,  and 
entrust  themselves  to,  their  teachers.  We 
entrust  ourselves  to  railroads,  steamships, 
and  all  means  of  conveyance.  We  eat 
freely  at  restaurants  and  hotels,  whose  cooks 
we  do  not  know.  We  place  our  lives  in  the 
hands  of  physicians.  Life  itself  is  a  great 
venture  and  involves  faith  at  every  turn.  To 
live  the  Christian  life,  adopt  Christ's  prin- 
ciples, trust  Christ's  power,  believe  in  and 
work  for  Christ's  program,  involves  a  ven- 
ture of  faith.  In  this  respect  it  is  like  the 
whole  of  life.  But  it  is  the  highest  venture 
of  faith  for  the  highest  goal  and  the  highest 
service. 

2.  This  method  of  knowing  Christ,  like 
all  effective  methods,  involves  a  definite  pur- 
pose. The  chemist  seeks  a  definite  result. 
Educators  aim  to  develop  the  individual 
and  fit  him  for  life.  Investigators  work  on 
definite  problems.  As  we  thus  pursue  defi- 
nite purposes  we  hit  upon  much  unexpected 

[56] 


Cbrist 

knowledge,  but  without  definite  purpose  and 
well-directed  endeavor,  one  is  not  carried 
far  in  any  field  of  learning. 

Christ's  purpose  is  to  produce  the  best 
type  of  life,  both  in  the  individual  and  in 
society.  Whoever  does  not  join  him  in 
this  definite  purpose,  both  for  his  own  life 
and  for  the  social  good,  may  as  well  at  once 
abandon  all  hope  of  knowing  Christ.  Who- 
ever desires  the  best  life  for  himself,  ear- 
nestly seeks  it,  and  is  willing  to  pay  the 
price  of  progress,  will  find  his  knowledge  of 
Christ  increasing  with  his  growing  experi- 
ence. 

3.  This  method  of  knowing  Christ  is  in- 
ductive. It  draws  knowledge  from  experi- 
ence. The  chief  characteristic  of  modern 
study  is  the  inductive,  as  contrasted  with  the 
deductive,  method.  In  biology,  geology, 
sociology,  and  the  other  sciences,  we  deal 
with  concrete  facts,  not  with  theories.  We 
act  upon  the  little  knowledge  we  have,  and 
are  thus  led  to  more  knowledge.  Acting 
on  what  we  know  of  electricity,  we  light 
our  homes,  send  messages,  drive  cars,  and 
look  at  each  other's  bones. 

This  modern  method  of  experiment  is  the 
one  to  which  Christ  invites  us,  and  the  only 

[57] 


Gbe  Essentlate  of  Christianity 

one.  "  Follow  me,"  test  me,  prove  me,  he 
constantly  insisted,  while  shunting  all  ques- 
tions of  theory  about  himself.  (Matt.  4  : 
19;  Luke  5  :  27;  Mark  8  :  34;  10  :  21.) 

4.  Knowledge  of  Christ  comes  by  obedi- 
ence to  lazv,  like  all  other  scientific  knowl- 
edge. When  the  chemist  disobeys  chemical 
laws  he  bursts  the  test-tube,  or  blows  up 
both  himself  and  the  laboratory.  When  the 
engineer  disobeys  the  laws  of  physics  the 
boiler  bursts,  or  the  building  tumbles  down, 
or  the  train  crashes  through  the  bridge. 
Disobedience  to  law,  of  course,  brings  nega- 
tive knowledge — if  we  survive  the  dis- 
obedience ;  it  tells  us  what  not  to  do,  but 
not  what  to  do.  Obedience  to  law  gives 
constructive  knowledge.  It  makes  us  co- 
operators  with  God.  All  his  laws  are  at 
our  beck  and  call  as  long  as  we  obey  them, 
while  disobedience  to  law  spells  defeat  and 
destruction. 

In  like  manner,  obedience  to  Christ  makes 
all  the  laws  of  divine  personality  operative 
in  us.  Our  characters  are  molded  by  asso- 
ciation with  him ;  love  for  him  grows  as  we 
do  for  him  and  he  for  us ;  the  more  we  love 
him  the  more  we  become  like  him ;  through 
our  companionship  with  him  his  passion  to 

[58] 


Cbvlst 

help  and  bless  men  grows  upon  us.  These 
are  simple  and  well-known  laws  of  person- 
ality. They  make  us  partners  and  cowork- 
ers with  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Big  Questions 

It  is  of  vital  importance  for  young  people 
to  learn  to  live  with,  work  patiently  upon, 
and  add  their  mite  to,  the  solution  of  prob- 
lems which  no  person,  generation,  or  cen- 
tury settles.  The  young  are  eager  to  settle 
questions  about  Christ  that  have  baffled  all 
thinkers,  such  as,  for  example,  How  can 
God  become  incarnate?  Is  Christ  really 
God?  How  can  human  and  divine  nature 
be  joined  in  one  person?  How  does  Christ 
save  us?  How  can  one  be  converted  by 
accepting  Christ?  How  can  Christ  and  evo- 
lution both  be  true?  and  many  others. 

Christ  has  never  been  explained,  and 
doubtless  never  will  be.  Were  he  so  sim- 
ple and  shallow  that  we  could  explain  him, 
he  doubtless  could  not  be  the  Saviour  of 
men.  A  Christ  who  grips  life  at  its  very 
heart,  who  awakens  in  one  new  desires  and 
passions,  who  imparts  himself  increasingly 
to   the   race,   who  becomes   the   center   of 

[59] 


ftbe  Essentials  of  Cbristtanttg 

human  love,  the  acknowledged  commander 
of  human  endeavor,  and  the  dominant  force 
in  organizing  society  on  an  increasingly 
high  basis  of  righteousness  and  brother- 
hood, is  beyond  all  explanation.  He  be- 
comes an  ever  deeper  mystery. 

Christ  was  a  puzzle  to  the  religious  lead- 
ers of  his  own  day,  and  an  unsolved  problem 
to  his  own  disciples.  Paul  speaks  of  the 
mystery  of  Christ,  "  unto  the  Jews  a  stum- 
bling-block, and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness ; 
but  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews 
and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and 
the  wisdom  of  God  "  ( i  Cor.  i  :  23,  24 ;  see 
Eph.  3:4;  6:19;  1  Tim.  3:  9,  16). 
Christ  himself,  speaking  of  spiritual  birth, 
said  that  it  could  not  be  explained,  but  was 
a  fact,  like  the  wind,  which  rose  and  fell 
without  the  cause  being  known.  (See  John 
3  :  7,  8.) 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  Bible 
labors — fairly  groans — to  express  in  terms 
of  human  experience,  who  and  what  Christ 
is.  It  calls  him  Son  of  God  and  Son  of 
Man.  We  know  something  of  sons  in  our 
homes — their  place  in  the  heart  of  the 
father,  their  relations  to  each  other,  their 
duties  of  filial  obedience,  their  unity  with 

T601 


Cbrlst 

the  father  in  purpose  and  endeavor.  All 
this  Christ  is  to  God  and  men. 

The  Bible  calls  Christ  a  king.  Christ 
himself  admits  that  he  is  a  king.  (John 
1 8  :  37.)  We  know  something  of  kings — 
their  right  to  rule,  the  duty  of  subjects,  etc. 

Christ  is  called  a  redeemer.  In  the  days 
of  slavery  the  redeemer  was  one  who  bought 
back  the  slave  and  set  him  free.  Peo- 
ple understood  something  of  the  work  of  a 
redeemer. 

Christ  is  called  our  sacrifice.  (Eph.  5  : 
2.)  It  was  a  time  when  both  heathen  and 
Jewish  sacrifices  were  common,  and  peo- 
ple understood  their  significance.  They 
were  a  means  of  approach  to  God,  an  of- 
fering for  sins  committed,  a  way  of  recon- 
ciliation with  God  and  of  beginning  life 
again  with  a  clean  sheet. 

Christ  is  called  priest.  (Heb.  2  :  17.) 
People  understood  the  function  of  priests. 
They  stood  between  God  and  men;  they 
brought  men's  offerings  to  God;  they 
pleaded  with  God  for  men ;  they  sought  to 
keep  men  right  with  God ;  they  made  known 
to  men  the  will  of  God. 

Christ  was  called,  and  called  himself,  a 
servant.    (Luke  22  :  27.)      All   knew   the 

[61] 


Gbe  JBssenttate  ot  CbriatianitB 

work  of  a  servant.  He  was  obedient  to 
his  master ;  he  bore  the  burdens  of  others ; 
his  was  a  life  of  ministry. 

Christ  calls  himself  the  good  shepherd. 
(John  10  :  1 1.)  The  people  were  familiar 
with  the  love,  solicitude,  and  watch-care 
of  shepherds — how  they  led  their  flocks  into 
green  pastures  and  beside  refreshing- 
waters;  how  they  fought  off  wild  beasts 
and  brought  the  lambs  safely  into  the  fold ; 
how  they  sought  lost  sheep,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  sacrifice  life  searching  for  them. 

Christ  calls  himself  the  bread  of  life. 
(John  6  :  35.)  In  a  country  where  beg- 
gars were  numerous,  where  multitudes  were 
poor,  where  conquering  armies  frequently 
swept  away  the  harvests,  people  knew  inten- 
sively the  meaning  of  bread  and  its  sig- 
nificance for  life. 

Christ  calls  himself  the  water  of  life. 
(John  4  :  14.)  In  a  country  of  highlands 
and  deserts,  where  small  streams  went  dry 
in  summer,  and  failure  of  rains  often  pro- 
duced famines,  the  people  knew  the  life- 
giving  value  of  water. 

Christ  calls  himself  the  vine,  and  his  dis- 
ciples branches.  (John  15  :  1-8.)  It  was  in 
a  country  of  grapes.     All  understood  how 

[62] 


Cbri5t 

dependent  branches  were  upon  the  vine,  and 
how  the  life  of  the>  vine  flowed  through  the 
branches. 

Christ  called  himself  the  light  of  the 
world,  the  way,  the  truth,  the  life.  By  still 
other  names  he  was  called.  Every  term 
was  one  falling  within  human  experience, 
and  lifting  up  out  of  experience  a  certain 
character-quality  or  spiritual  relationship. 
These  terms — son,  king,  redeemer,  sacrifice, 
priest,  servant,  shepherd,  vine,  bread,  water, 
light,  way,  truth,  life — taken  together, 
doubtless  only  begin  to  express  to  us  what 
Christ  really  is  to  the  race.  They  illus- 
trate both  the  wealth  and  the  poverty  of 
human  expression.  Christ  is  more  than  all 
of  them.  Human  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence doubtless  do  not  contain  ideas  or  terms 
adequate  to  express  fully  what  Jesus  Christ 
is  to  humanity.  He  overfills  and  overflows 
all  our  ideas,  all  our  terms,  all  our  experi- 
ences. This  fact  Paul,  the  greatest  ex- 
pounder of  Christ,  evidently  felt  when,  as 
in  a  burst  of  exultant  despair  over  explana- 
tions, he  exclaimed,  "  In  him  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily"  (Col. 
2  :  9). 

Christ  makes  the  understanding  of  him- 

[  63 1 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtsttanttB 

self  an  agelong  task — something  into  which 
the  race  grows  as  it  experiences  him — when 
he  says  to  his  disciples :  "  I  have  yet  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now.  Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit 
of  truth,  is  come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all 
the  truth;  .  .  for  he  shall  receive  of  mine, 
and  shall  show  it  unto  you  "  (John  16  : 
12-14). 

The  rapid  changes  going  on  at  present 
in  religious  thought  amply  illustrate  Christ's 
teaching,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  reveal- 
ing to  the  growing  mind  of  the  race  more 
and  more  of  the  truth  in  Christ.  For  ex- 
ample :  For  centuries  men  have  emphasized 
the  cross  of  Christ  as  the  basis  of  salvation, 
and  the  salvation  was  thought  of  as  safety 
in  heaven  hereafter.  Today,  while  we  hold 
both  of  these  facts  as  precious  truths,  the 
emphasis  has  shifted,  and  the  truths  are 
seen  in  relations  not  before  discerned.  No 
longer  do  men  believe  that  the  cross  of 
Christ  will  avail  for  him  who  neglects  his 
own  cross.  They  believe  that  as  the  way 
of  the  cross  was  the  way  of  Christ's  life,  so 
every  one  who  finds  life  must  find  it  by 
way  of  the  cross  accepted  as  a  principle  of 
action  for  his  own  life.     The  later  concep- 

[64] 


Cbttet 

tion  of  the  cross  is  maturer  and  more  ade- 
quate than  the  earlier  one.  It  betokens  the 
breaking  of  a  new  light  upon  the  soul  of 
man  from  Christ's  words,  "  Whosoever 
doth  not  bear  his  cross,  and  come  after  me, 
cannot  be  my  disciple." 

Today  also  the  cross  of  Christ  is  re- 
garded, not  only  as  a  means  of  saving  us 
in  heaven,  precious  as  that  is,  but  more 
especially  as  a  means  of  building  heaven 
on  earth.  The  cross  of  Christ,  borne  by 
men,  means,  in  the  life  of  men,  love  instead 
of  hate,  brotherliness  instead  of  selfishness, 
the  square  deal  instead  of  exploitation,  help- 
fulness instead  of  indifference  to  others' 
needs,  self-giving  instead  of  self-seeking, 
"  each  for  all,  and  all  for  each."  The  way 
of  the  cross  is  life,  not  simply  a  means  to 
life.  It  is  the  abounding  life,  and  any  other 
sort  of  life  is  poor  and  mean  and  poverty- 
stricken  compared  with  it.  It  is  eternal  life, 
life  that  grows  on  forever,  flowering  ever 
more  gloriously  as  it  grows. 

Today,  when  one  takes  the  cross  into  one's 
own  life  and  lives  it,  we  have  no  concern 
whatever  about  his  salvation  hereafter.  We 
look  for  that  to  arrive  as  a  matter  of  course, 
guaranteed  by  the  quality  of  the  life  lived 

E  [65] 


vibe  Essentials  of  GbrtettanltB 

here — life  united  to  Christ,  lived  by  the 
power  of  Christ,  and  having  the  quality 
of  Christ's  life. 

And  thus,  as  the  centuries  sweep  on,  the 
mind  of  the  race  ever  maturing,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  ever  teaching,  we  find  our- 
selves, not  going  beyond  Christ,  but  under- 
standing him  more  fully.  In  the  light  of 
such  facts,  for  one  to  seek  adequate  ex- 
planation of  Christ,  and  to  refuse  to  link 
his  life  with  Christ  until  such  explanation 
is  forthcoming,  is  like  the  questioning  child 
of  four  refusing  to  eat  or  drink  until  his 
father  has  answered  all  his  machine-gun 
questions  about  food  and  drink.  We  know 
Christ  by  associating  with  him,  working 
with  him,  taking  into  our  lives  his  purposes, 
and  experiencing  the  worth-whileness  of 
sacrificing  for  truth  and  righteousness  be- 
cause men  need  truth  and  righteousness. 

Christ  Is  Power 

The  person,  Christ  Jesus,  in  personal  re- 
lations with  the  individual,  is  power.  While 
during  a  brief  three  years  he  walked  with 
his  disciples,  he  transformed  them  from 
commonplace  men  into  spiritual  idealists  and 

[66] 


Cbrfst 

moral  heroes.  He  filled  them  with  bound- 
less faith  in  God  and  men.  He  kindled  in 
them  an  undying  love,  for  which  they  gladly 
worked,  suffered,  and  died.  He  filled  them 
with  contagious  and  persuasive  power  over 
men,  a  power  which  caused  men  to  turn 
their  backs  on  heathenism,  forsake  sinful 
lives,  love  things  before  hated,  and  hate 
things  before  loved. 

This  miracle  of  transforming  power  has 
not  ceased.  There  are  several  types  of  con- 
version— cataclasmic,  calm  and  serene,  and 
all  the  way  between  the  two.  The  type  is 
determined  by  differing  conditions  of  home, 
school,  church,  beliefs,  etc.  But  Christ's 
power  in  the  life  is  manifest  in  all  types. 
One  in  association  with  Christ  is  trans- 
formed, purified,  and  given  poise,  steadi- 
ness, and  strength  to  pursue  the  good;  he 
is  filled  with  hope,  courage,  and  heroism  for 
righteousness.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mo- 
ment a  person  consciously  and  wilfully  dis- 
associates himself  from  Christ,  he  begins  to 
decline  spiritually  and  morally;  he  begins 
to  lose  faith  in  God  and  men ;  he  ceases  to 
be  a  wholesome  and  uplifting  dynamic  in 
other  lives. 

The  power  of  Christ  has  changed  and 

[671 


Gbe  Bssentials  of  CbristianttB 

is  changing  the  conditions  of  society.  Some 
evils,  such  as  slavery,  are  wholly  done  away. 
So  extensively  has  the  spirit  of  brotherhood 
spread,  that  war,  once  the  ordinary  busi- 
ness of  nations,  is  condemned  by  the  whole 
race,  except  as  a  national  necessity,  and  as 
a  measure  of  self-defense.  Ridiculous  as  it 
was,  Germany  must  put  forth  the  self-de- 
fense plea  to  justify  war  to  her  own  peo- 
ple. Charity — organized,  expensive,  but  im- 
perative— a  product  of  Christ'  s  spirit  in 
men,  hastens  to  supply  human  needs  wher- 
ever they  appear  on  the  entire  globe.  This 
fact,  the  multiple  ministries  of  the  Red 
Cross,  the  Young  Men's  and  Young  Wo- 
men's Christian  Associations,  and  the 
Knights  of  Columbus  attest.  Christian  mis- 
sionaries hasten  with  messages  of  God's  love 
to  every  known  land,  and  Christian  preach- 
ers, teachers,  physicians,  engineers,  and 
other  workers  fill  all  lands  with  tokens  of 
Christ's  uplifting  power. 

The  Christian  emphasis  today  is  largely 
social.  Christian  business  men,  as  never 
before  in  history,  are  insisting  upon  "  the 
square  deal "  because  all  men  are  brothers. 
Christians  are  found  everywhere  working 
in  causes  of  social  uplift — temperance,  sani- 

[68] 


Cbttet 

tation,  good  housing,  fair  wages,  adequate 
hospitals,  good  schools,  ample  parks  and 
playgrounds,  healthful  recreations,  social 
purity,  and  worthful  life  for  all. 

One  only  needs  to  compare  ours  with 
other  civilizations  to  realize  that  ours  is 
Christian,  leavened  with  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
and  that  a  power  from  Christ,  working  in 
the  hearts  of  men,  is  the  dynamic  which 
holds  it  up  and  pushes  it  forward. 

Christ  Judges  Men 

Every  one  is  fairly  judged  by  his  attitude 
to  Christ.  "  He  that  rejecteth  me,"  says 
Christ,  "  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath 
one  that  judgeth  him:  the  word  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last 
day"  (John  12  :  48).  When  one  looks  at 
a  masterpiece  and  calls  it  a  chromo,  he  is 
condemned  as  not  being  an  artist.  When 
one  looks  at  the  character  of  Christ — its 
beauty,  symmetry,  justice,  sympathy,  for- 
giveness, righteousness,  love,  heroism,  self- 
giving,  and  willingness  to  suffer  and  die  for 
men — his  judgment  of  that  character,  his 
attitude  toward  it,  and  his  relations  with  it, 
weigh  him  and  judge  him. 

[69] 


Gbe  J60scntial0  of  Cbttettanitg 

To  choose  Christ  is  to  choose  the  highest 
life,  to  require  of  one's  self  heroism  to  fight 
against  sin  both  in  self  and  society;  and 
to  associate  with  Christ  is  to  seek  inspira- 
tion and  strength  for  the  struggle.  It  is 
said  that  "  the  good  is  the  enemy  of  the 
best,"  and  it  is  true.  To  choose  Christ  is  to 
choose  the  best,  to  live  with  the  best,  to 
work  for  the  best.  Looking  at  Christ,  one 
squarely  faces  a  great  challenge — whether 
with  Christ  he  will  choose  his  own  best,  or 
without  Christ  fall  short  of  it. 

It  should  be  emphasized  here,  even  at  the 
risk  of  repetition,  that  to  choose  Christ  is 
not  to  accept  some  theological  formulas 
about  Christ.  Christ  is  a  person,  alive  from 
the  dead,  eager  to  be  friend  and  companion 
to  every  one  of  us,  and  to  endue  us  with 
spiritual  power  as  we  join  purposes  with 
him  and  exert  ourselves  to  supply  the 
world's  spiritual  needs. 

The  writer  will  never  forget  the  years  of 
struggle  during  which  he  sought  to  work 
out  a  satisfactory  theory  of  the  atonement 
of  Christ,  and  the  failure  accompanying 
the  attempt.  It  was  like  a  burst  of  sun- 
shine through  the  clouds  when  an  aged  min- 
isterial  friend  said  simply :  "  You  do  not 

[70] 


Cbtfat 

have  to  have  any  theory  of  the  atonement. 
Christ  is  a  person.  Deal  with  him  per- 
sonally, not  with  theories  about  him." 

Christ  is  not  our  Saviour  because  we  be- 
lieve in  him  as  Saviour,  but  because  of  what 
he  works  in  us  when  we  make  him  friend, 
companion,  may  I  not  say,  chum.  The 
things  of  supreme  value  for  life  are  facts, 
not  theories;  persons,  not  philosophies.  A 
friend  of  the  author's  undertook  to  per- 
suade a  man  that  Jesus  was  Saviour  by 
piloting'  him  through  the  whole  body  of 
"  Christian  Evidences  "  as  they  were  em- 
bodied in  books  years  ago.  When  they  had 
finished,  my  friend  inquired,  "  Are  you 
convinced  ?  "  "  Yes,"  replied  the  man,  "  but 
I  am  no  different."  One  may  accept  with- 
out question  all  theologies  about  Christ 
without  having  Christ  as  a  power  in  his 
life ;  and  one  may  know  nothing  about  the- 
ologies, and  care  less  for  them,  and  have 
Christ  in  his  life  a  continuous  revelation,  a 
growing  power,  and  an  increasing  joy,  if 
only  he  will  make  Christ  his  friend  and 
companion,  and  be  true  to  him  as  such. 
"  Follow  me,"  Christ  commands.  If  we 
obey,  he  becomes  to  us  the  bread  of  life, 
the  water  of  life,  the  light  of  life,  the  way 

[71] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Cbrtstianm: 

of  life,  the  truth  of  life,  the  life  itself. 
Gradually  and  increasingly  there  comes  to 
us  through  him  revelation  of  what  God  is, 
revelation  of  ourselves,  revelation  of  the 
eternal  principles  which  bind  God  and  man 
together,  which  transform  men  into  the  di- 
vine image,  and  which,  through  the  long 
centuries,  produce  the  growing  union  of 
man  with  God  and  men  with  men. 

Then  fiercely  we  dig  the   fountain, 

Oh!  where  do  the  waters  rise? 
Then,  panting,  we  climb  the  mountain, 

Oh!  are  there  indeed  blue  skies? 
And  we  dig  till  the  soul  is  weary, 

Nor  find  the  waters  out, 
And  we  climb  till  all  is  dreary, 

And  still  the  sky  is  a  doubt. 

Search  not  the  roots  of  the  fountain, 

But  drink  the  waters  bright ; 
Gaze  far  above  the  mountain, 

The  sky  may  speak  in  light — 
But  if  yet  thou  see  no  beauty, 

If,  widowed,  thy  heart  still  cries, 
With  thy  hands  go  do  thy  duty, 

And  thy  work  will  clear  thine  eyes. 

— George  Macdonald. 


[72] 


Id) 

Evolution 


EVOLUTION 


THE  study  of  biological  evolution  is  apt 
to  disturb  for  a  time  the  religious  ideas 
of  young  people  in  colleges  and  universities. 
That  the  facts  of  modern  science  conflict 
with  medieval  religious  ideas,  goes  without 
saying.  They  equally  conflict  with  medieval 
scientific  beliefs.  But  between  the  facts 
of  modern  science  and  the  best  religious 
thought  of  our  day  there  is  no  conflict,  but 
instead  a  marvelous  and  significant  har- 
mony. It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  single 
prominent  Christian  scholar  today  who  does 
not  believe  in  the  theory  of  evolution.  The 
conflict  which  the  young  imagine  to  exist 
between  this  theory  and  religion  arises  out 
of  mistaken  notions  of  both  science  and 
religion.  Among  these  mistaken  notions 
are  the  following: 

i.  People  sometimes  speak  of  evolution 
as  though  it  were  sufficient  unto  itself, 
an  energizing  force  which  develops  life 
from  lower  to  higher  stages.     Just  as  any 


[75] 


XLbc  Essentials  of  CbristlanttE 

law  in  and  of  itself  does  nothing,  but  tells 
how  some  force  operates,  so  evolution  in 
and  of  itself  does  nothing,  but  is  descriptive 
of  the  way  in  which  force  works.  Back  of 
all  phases  of  the  theory  of  evolution  is  the 
question,  What  is  the  force  at  work?  The 
Christian  evolutionist  says  it  is  God.  God 
creates,  and  is  ever  creating.  From  the 
first  life  cell,  and  before,  to  the  highest  man 
in  the  most  complex  society,  God  is  ener- 
gizing. Nothing  is  apart  from  him.  Laws 
and  methods  and  theories  simply  tell,  or  at- 
tempt to  tell,  how  he  works.  God  is  not  an 
absentee  landlord,  but  an  indwelling  energy 
in  the  physical  universe,  an  unfolding  power 
in  biological  creation,  and  an  indwelling  and 
guiding  Spirit  in  man  and  society.  "  In 
him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  be- 
ing "  (Acts  17  :  28). 

2.  This  erroneous  idea,  that  evolution 
is  a  force  instead  of  the  description  of  the 
working  of  a  force,  is  sometimes  carried  to 
the  extreme-  of  assuming  that  physical  and 
biological  forces  are  sufficient  to  account  for 
social  phenomena.  But  no  well-informed 
scientist  today  thinks  of  accounting  for  so- 
cial phenomena,  and  social  and  spiritual 
progress,  simply  by  the  operation  of  phys- 

[76] 


Bvolutton 

ical  and  biological  forces.  Into  the  process, 
even  of  biological  evolution,  new  and  inex- 
plicable forces  keep  entering — forces  which 
separate  species  and  mark  off  eras.  All  that 
goes  before  new  species  cannot  account  for 
them.  The  less  never  accounts  for  the 
greater ;  nor  the  lower  for  the  higher.  The 
oyster  cannot  account  for  the  fish,  nor  the 
fish  for  the  amphibian,  nor  the  amphibian 
for  the  bird,  nor  the  bird  for  the  mammal, 
nor  all  lower  animals  for  man. 

Into  social  evolution  also  new  forces 
enter:  Mind  controls,  love  is  powerful, 
ethical  ideas  grip,  great  ideals  lift,  and  God 
comes  increasingly  into  conscious  relations 
with  men. 

Instead  of  there  being  some  so-called 
evolutionary  force  that  is  unfolding  all 
things,  we  are  living  in  a  continuous  proc- 
ess of  creation.  New  forces  enter  every 
now  and  then  to  change  the  direction  of 
progress  and  lift  life  to  a  higher  plane. 
The  Spirit  of  the  eternal  God  fairly  throbs 
and  thrills  through  the  whole  process. 

Why  is  it  that  a  nation  like  the  United 
States,  for  years  in  the  grip  of  commer- 
cialism, and,  as  some  think,  money-mad, 
with  its  young  men  dominated  by  ambition 

[77] 


Zbe  ^Essentials  of  Cbrietianitc 

for  success,  suddenly  took  up  arms,  poured 
out  treasure,  and  laid  down  life  in  the  world 
war  for  an  ideal — the  ideal  that  every  na- 
tion, no  matter  how  small  or  weak,  has  a 
right  to  work  out  its  highest  possibilities 
in  its  own  place  unmolested,  and  that  right, 
not  might,  must  rule  the  world  ?  What  had 
come  over  our  young  men  that,  with  tear- 
dimmed  eyes  as  they  left  home  and  friends, 
they  said,  as  some  of  them  said  to  the 
writer :  "  I  want  to  do  something  for  my 
country ; "  "  Unless  I  have  part  in  the  war, 
I  would  not  want  to  live  after  the  war ;  " 
"  They  may  bury  me  on  the  hills  of  France, 
but  if  so  I  shall  feel  that  my  life  has  been 
well  spent"?  Why  did  the  boys  in  the 
trenches  get  next  to  God  as  never  before, 
pray  the  thing  through  at  night,  and  in 
the  morning,  with  victory  in  their  hearts, 
go  into  the  drive  singing,  deeming  it  worth 
while  to  die  if  need  be  to  help  those  who 
should  live  after  them  to  realize  an  ideal? 
Why?  God  was  moving  upon  men  in  a 
new  way,  turning  life  in  a  nobler  direction, 
and  lifting  it  to  a  higher  stage  of  manliness. 
The  same  God  who  has  worked  in  the 
whole  life  process  from  the  beginning  was 
working  in  new  ways.     Men  today  are  in 

[78] 


Evolution 

the  grip  of  world  ideas,  and  humanitarian 
feelings  of  unprecedented  breadth  and  depth 
are  moving  them  to  action.  God  is  creat- 
ing a  new  social  order. 

3.  Another  erroneous  notion  is  that  evo- 
lution is  wholly  a  gradual  process.  It  is, 
indeed,  largely  gradual ;  and  yet  the  whole 
course  of  evolution  is  marked  by  occasional, 
and  somewhat  frequent  sudden  changes, 
new  outbursts  of  power,  new  directions  of 
life.  These  sudden  leaps — mutations,  some 
of  them  have  been  called — are  inexplicable. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  analogy  to  these 
sudden  changes  is  found  in  the  individual, 
who  is  thought  by  many  to  recapitulate  in  a 
rough  way  the  life  history  of  the  race.  Not 
to  mention  prior  changes,  human  birth  is  a 
sudden  break  in  the  prenatal  life.  After 
the  event  new  powers  unfold,  and  the  in- 
dividual enters  into  new  relations.  The  age 
of  puberty  again  brings  sudden  changes, 
both  physical  and  mental,  and  after  these 
changes  a  new  era  in  life  begins.  In  the 
individual's  spiritual  life,  conversion  marks 
the  end  of  an  old  era  and  the  beginning  of 
a  new  one.  Christ  calls  it  a  new  birth.  So 
marked  is  it  with  most  people  that,  as  Paul 
says,  one  is  "  a  new  creature :  old  things  are 

[79] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  GbrtetfanttB 

passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  are  become 
new"  (2  Cor.  5  :  17).  Life  assumes  a 
new  attitude,  experiences  a  new  joy,  finds 
a  new  love,  becomes  possessed  of  a  new 
faith,  is  moved  by  a  new  purpose,  enlists 
in  a  new  service.  In  a  word,  a  new  force 
has  entered  the  individual,  which  starts  into 
new  and  vigorous  growth  elements  of  life 
before  latent,  and  guides  the  life  in  a  new 
and  higher  direction. 

Analogous  to  these  comparatively  sudden 
changes  in  individual  evolution,  are  the 
more  or  less  sudden  changes  in  the  unfold- 
ing of  life  as  a  whole.  Biological  species 
show  innumerable  inexplicable  changes ;  be- 
tween species  there  are  great  and  sudden 
leaps;  and  there  is  a  wide,  unbridged  gulf 
between  the  highest  animal  and  the  lowest 
man. 

Social  evolution  also  is  filled  with  sud- 
den outbursts  of  new  life  and  sudden  mani- 
festations of  new  power.  The  most  marked 
one  in  history  is  the  advent  of  Christ.  His 
advent  began  a  new  era  and  changed  the 
course  of  human  development.  It  filled 
men  with  new  hopes,  new  purposes,  new 
faith,  new  love,  new  courage,  new  al- 
legiance, new  devotion,  and  a  new  spirit  of 

[80] 


Bvolutton 

self-giving.  It  began  the  development  of 
a  new  humanitarianism,  which  found  ex- 
pression in  a  new  valuation  of  the  indi- 
vidual, more  humanitarian  laws,  more  be- 
neficent institutions,  juster  government, 
more  equitable  trade  relations — in  a  word, 
in  a  higher  and  finer  humanity. 

Less  great  and  sudden  changes  appear  in 
the  barbarian  invasion  of  Italy,  which  over- 
threw the  Roman  empire;  in  the  Crusades, 
the  Reformation,  and  the  Renaissance.  The 
world  war  will  doubtless  prove  to  be  the 
most  significant  sudden  historic  event  since 
Christ.  It  is  the  bursting  forth  of  new 
life;  it  will  mark  off  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctly a  new  era;  it  will  change  the  direc- 
tion of  human  thought  and  endeavor,  es- 
pecially in  those  spheres  of  life  which  make 
for  social  betterment  and  have  to  do  directly 
with  the  building  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth.  Now  that  the  war  is  over  every 
one  expects  the  world  to  be  different.  It 
will  be  better  than  before,  for  the  processes 
of  social  evolution  lead  upward.  The  mind 
of  man  is  travailing  in  a  new  birth.  It  is 
coming  to  a  keener  appreciation  of  the 
rights  of  even  the  weakest  man  and  nation, 
to  a  new  discernment  of  the  things  that  are 

f  r  8x  1 


XLbc  Essential*  of  Christian  its 

most  worth  while,  to  a  new  resolve  for 
brotherly  conduct  in  the  whole  of  life,  to 
a  growing  sense  of  the  presence,  power,  and 
working  of  God  in  the  individual  and  in 
history,  and  to  a  growing  appreciation  of 
the  things  that  God  values. 

4.  Another  wrong  notion  about  evolution 
arises  from  the  fact  that  students,  after  a 
smattering  of  biological  evolution,  leap  to 
the  conclusion  that  biological  methods  of 
evolution — differentiation,  selection,  propa- 
gation, adaptation,  struggle  for  existence, 
survival  of  the  fittest — continue  to  be  the 
methods  of  social  evolution.  The  facts  are 
otherwise,  or  perhaps  more  accurately,  these 
principles  of  evolution  must  be  differently 
interpreted  or  applied  when  we  enter  the 
field  of  social  evolution. 

Professor  Drummond,  in  his  "  Ascent  of 
Man,"  showed  that  the  human  struggle  for 
existence  was  not  for  self,  as  is  largely  true 
in  biological  evolution,  but  increasingly  for 
others;  and  history  corroborates  his  show- 
ing. The  United  States  went  to  war  with 
Spain,  not  in  a  struggle  for  self,  but  for 
Cuba.  In  the  world  war,  while  the  United 
States  apprehended  a  possible  future  danger 
from  Germany,  that  future  possibility  alone 

[82] 


Bvolutton 

would  not  have  led  us  to  take  up  arms  when 
we  did.  Our  impelling  motive  was  a  sense 
of  duty  to  contribute  our  part  in  the  win- 
ning of  liberty  and  democracy  for  all  peo- 
ples. We  entered  the  struggle,  not  for  self, 
but  for  the  larger  life  of  humanity. 

The  great  difference  between  biological 
and  social  evolution  is  that  the  former  is 
primarily  an  evolution  of  physical  life  as 
expressed  in  physical  forms — the  bodies  of 
genera  and  species  of  animals ;  whereas  the 
latter  is  the  evolution  of  psychic  life  as  ex- 
pressed in  social  forms — governments,  cus- 
toms, laws,  institutions,  etc.  The  strata  of 
human  history  are  as  filled  with  fossil  social 
institutions  as  are  the  geologic  strata  with 
the  remains  of  fossil  animals. 

Let  it  be  noted  that  biological  evolution 
reached  its  goal  in  the  production  of  the 
human  body.  There  are  no  human  genera 
or  species.  Whether  we  go  back  to  the 
earliest  human  remains  or  examine  all  liv- 
ing races,  no  divergencies  of  human  forms 
are  found  sufficient  for  a  basis  of  different 
species,  much  less  genera. 

With  the  advent  of  man,  and  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  physical  form,  the  goal  of  evo- 
lution is  lifted  higher,  and  its  methods  be- 

[83] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  Cbrtsttanits 

come  different.  Human  progress  is  not  in 
being  molded  by  environment,  as  was  largely 
the  case  with  animal  progress,  but  in  psychic 
mastery  of  environment — in  cultivating 
land,  building  cities,  making  the  world 
smaller  by  rapid  communication,  and  in  ad- 
justing human  relations  to  these  new  en- 
vironing conditions. 

Why  the  biological  organism  varies  in 
certain  directions  rather  than  others,  is  not 
known.  No  more  is  it  known  why  the  so- 
cial mind  grows  in  certain  directions,  ever 
making  demands  upon  itself  for  new  ad- 
justments— more  brotherhood,  more  sym- 
pathy, more  justice,  more  cooperation,  more 
service;  except  that  the  social  mind,  plant- 
like, grows  toward  the  light,  toward  the 
Christ,  "  the  light  of  the  world." 

In  social  evolution,  as  indicated  above, 
if  biological  laws  continue  to  operate,  they 
must  be  differently  applied.  For  example, 
the  "  fittest "  in  the  "  struggle  for  exis- 
tence "  are  no  longer  the  strongest  phys- 
ically, but  the  best ;  not  those  who  fight,  but 
those  who  cooperate;  not  those  who  hate 
their  enemies,  but  those  who  love  them ;  not 
those  who  exploit  their  fellows,  but  those 
who  serve  them.     Events,  of  course,  often 

[84] 


Bvolutton 

seem  to  indicate  the  contrary,  but  they  do 
not.  Christ  seemed  to  go  down  in  defeat 
when  he  was  crucified,  but  his  crucifiers  are 
forgotten,  the  world  has  repudiated  their 
principles,  and  the  crucified  Christ  has  con- 
quered the  human  heart  and  is  leavening 
the  laws  of  nations  increasingly  with  his 
spirit.  Not  the  strong,  but  the  best  survive. 
The  application  here,  of  course,  is  not  to 
individuals,  nor  even  to  races  of  men,  but 
to  those  higher  qualities  of  life  for  which 
men  are  willing  to  die,  and  which  get  them- 
selves embodied  in  human  convictions,  laws, 
governments,  and  institutions.  These  are 
propagated  century  after  century ;  they  con- 
tinue because  they  are  fittest  to  continue. 
The  Romans  thought  they  were  making  an 
end  of  the  Christians  when  they  threw 
them  to  the  lions.  The  Romans  were  phys- 
ically strong  and  the  Christians  physically 
weak.  But  "  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was 
the  seed  of  the  church."  The  Christians 
were  really  the  strong,  for  they  embodied 
those  principles  which  human  institutions 
needed,  and  which  the  heart  of  man  would 
not  let  die.  The  Roman  Government  has 
perished;  Christian  principles  live  on  with 
more  and  more  abundant  life. 

[85] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  GbrtstianttB 

In  social  evolution,  then,  the  struggle  is 
not  between  individuals  and  species  as  in 
biological  evolution,  and  the  fittest  to  sur- 
vive are  not  the  strongest.  The  struggle  is 
one  between  social  institutions,  between  or- 
ganized phases  of  the  social  mind;  and  the 
best  institutions,  that  is,  those  best  adapted 
to  serve  human  needs,  survive.  For  ex- 
ample, the  Christian  church  has  become  dif- 
ferentiated into  many  branches,  each  with 
its  particular  creed  and  forms  of  worship. 
These  differing  creeds  and  forms  of  wor- 
ship contend  for  the  mastery.  Those  best 
adapted  to  human  needs  are  selected  out  by 
the  sifting  years.  They  propagate  them- 
selves for  longer  or  shorter  time.  They 
are  constantly  face  to  face  with  the  prob- 
lem of  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  men. 
Those  that  adjust  themselves  to  human 
needs  survive;  those  that  fail  to  adjust 
themselves  perish. 

The  same  facts  are  true  of  all  social  in- 
stitutions. England,  in  the  treatment  of 
her  colonies,  is  an  outstanding  example  of 
governmental  adjustment  to  growing  po- 
litical, economic,  and  social  needs.  Spain, 
in  the  treatment  of  her  colonies,  is  an  ex- 
ample of  precisely  the  opposite  sort.     En- 

[86] 


revolution 

gland,  therefore,  has  been  growing  strong 
while  Spain  has  been  growing  weak. 

The  Germans  in  the  world  war  chal- 
lenged the  fundamental  fact  of  social  evo- 
lution— that  it  is  the  upward  progress  of 
mankind  and  not  simply  the  survival  of 
brute  force.  The  struggle  was  between 
autocracy  and  democracy  as  political  insti- 
tutions, between  force  and  right  as  princi- 
ples of  government,  and  between  material- 
ism and  idealism  as  philosophies  of  life. 
The  fittest  survived.  For  two  thousand 
years  the  social  mind  has  been  growing 
toward  democracy,  and  autocracy  was 
doomed.  Even  had  the  Allies  been  beaten, 
it  was  doomed  in  time,  doomed  as  those 
who  crucified  Christ  were  doomed,  and  as 
those  who  threw  the  Christians  to  the  lions 
were  doomed.  Not  the  strongest,  but  the 
best,  whether  strong  or  weak,  survive.  The 
nation  that  does  not  adjust  itself  to  this 
principle  of  social  growth  will  perish.  This 
dictum  is  written  in  history.  It  is  the  fiat 
of  the  social  life  process. 

Not  only  is  there  no  conflict  between  the 
scientific  theory  of  evolution  and  modern 
Christian  thought,  but  the  theory  has  helped 
to  amplify  and  broaden  Christian  thought, 

[87] 


Gbe  JSssenttals  ot  Cbrtstianitg 

and  to  bring  the  thinking  of  Christians 
nearer  to  the  teachings  of  Christ.  As  all 
are  aware,  each  field  of  knowledge  in- 
fluences every  other  field.  Science  in- 
fluences philosophy,  and  philosophy  science ; 
religion  influences  government,  and  govern- 
ment religion,  and  so  on.  A  clear  illustra- 
tion, for  example,  of  the  influence  of  gov- 
ernment on  religion  lies  in  the  historic  fact 
that  governmental  forms  have  been  power- 
ful in  molding  men's  ideas  of  God.  In  the 
Old  Testament  ages,  when  war  was  the 
business  of  nations,  God  was  thought  of 
as  a  god  of  war,  as  approving  the  spoils  of 
war,  and  as  sanctioning  cruelties  against 
heathen  nations.  Calvin  developed  his 
stern  doctrine  of  God's  sovereignty  in  days 
of  kingly  rule.  In  our  democratic  era, 
when  there  is  a  goodly  infusion  of  broth- 
erly love  in  social  relations,  and  class  dis- 
tinctions are  breaking  down,  and  there  is 
more  of  the  "  square  deal  "  in  business, 
we  are  able  to  understand  and  appreciate 
the  teachings  of  Christ,  that  God  is  a 
Father.  In  strong  contrast  with  the  idea 
of  God  developed  under  democracy  was  the 
German  idea  of  God  developed  under  an 
overbearing  and   dominating  autocracy — a 

r  88 1 


Evolution 

god  who  cared  for  Germans  as  he  did  not 
care  for  others,  who  looked  with  favor  upon 
the  rule  of  physical  might,  who  led  on  in 
ruthless  warfare — the  "  German  Gott." 
Thus  governmental  ideas  greatly  affect  re- 
ligious ideas. 

In  like  manner  the  theory  of  evolution 
has  greatly  influenced  religious  thinking. 
Its  special  contribution  is  the  emphasis  it 
places  on  the  element  of  time  in  God's 
working.  The  theory  allows  eons  of  time 
for  physical  evolution  before  life  appears  on 
the  planet;  and  eons  of  time  for  biological 
evolution  before  man  appears;  and  un- 
counted centuries — from  man's  first  appear- 
ance to  the  present — for  social  evolution. 
God  is  not  in  a  hurry.  With  him  "  a  thou- 
sand years  are  as  one  day  and  one  day  as 
a  thousand  years."  Thus  the  long-time  em- 
phasis enables  us  to  enlarge  and  extend  our 
conception  of  the  whole  process  of  God's 
working  and  bring  it  into  conformity  with 
the  teachings  of  Christ.  The  following  par- 
ticulars may  be  noted: 

I.  Early  Christians  expected  Christ  to 
come  again  suddenly,  bring  all  mundane  af- 
fairs to  an  end,  and  take  them  home  to 
glory.    Christ,  on  the  contrary,  taught  that 

[89] 


Zbc  ^essentials  of  Cbrifltianits 

Gods  processes  were  those  of  the  mustard- 
seed  and  the  pervading  leaven — gradual 
processes.  The  theory  of  evolution  has  so 
familiarized  our  thought  with  the  element 
of  time  in  God's  working  that  we  can  now 
understand  and  apply  Christ's  teachings. 
We  see  God  working  in  the  star-dust  and 
in  the  first  cell.  He  lifts  life  up  species  by 
species,  unfolding  new  powers  at  every  step, 
and  opening  the  way  to  larger  possibilities. 
He  leads  man  forth  from  the  rest  of  his 
creatures,  new,  different,  higher.  At  every 
step  of  social  development  God  energizes. 
His  Spirit  is  in  man,  and  works  through 
man,  increasingly  conforming  man's 
thought,  desires,  and  endeavors  to  his  will. 
The  unfolding  of  life  is  a  long,  gradual, 
upward  process;  it  is  still  going  forward; 
and  men,  as  Paul  taught,  are  workers  to- 
gether with  God  in  the  task. 

2.  Familiarity  with  the  time  element  in 
God's  working,  has  filled  us  with  hope  for 
society  and  courage  for  sacrificial  work. 
Men  no  longer  despair  of  saving  society 
and  abandon  social  tasks,  as  once  they  did, 
for  hermit  cells.  They  realize  that  social 
tasks  are  long,  hard  tasks,  requiring  pa- 
tience, faith,   and  continuous   work.     The 

[90] 


Evolution 

time  element  has  taught  us  that  great  evils 
are  to  be  banished  from  the  social  order  one 
by  one.  It  has  given  new  confidence  in  the 
certainty  of  the  upward  trend  of  civilization 
under  the  vitalizing  power  of  Christ.  It 
has  led  us  to  appreciation  of  the  far-reach- 
ing influence  of  every  forceful  personality 
and  every  human  endeavor  as  we  work 
with  Christ  in  redeeming  the  world. 

3.  Familiarity  with  the  time  element  has 
brought  the  "  kingdom  of  God  "  down  out 
of  heaven,  where  the  early  Christians  placed 
it,  to  be  upon  the  earth,  where  Christ  placed 
it.  As  before  indicated,  the  early  Christians 
looked  for  a  sudden  ending  of  the  world, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  heaven.  This  conception  obtained 
for  long  centuries,  and  is  not  yet  extinct, 
although  increasing  numbers  of  Christians 
are  emphasizing  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth,  where  Christ  came  to  set  it  up.  Men 
are  now  busy  working  and  fighting  and 
legislating  to  get  men  here  on  earth  to  do 
God's  will,  the  doing  of  which  is  God's 
kingdom.  We  call  ours  a  social  century, 
for  we  have  gripped  the  social  task  in  ear- 
nest. The  emphasis  of  governments  today 
is  upon  right  social  relationships,  and  the 

[91] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Gbristianitg 

emphasis  of  religion  is  upon  Christian  ethics 
and  service.  This  means,  not  simply  salva- 
tion hereafter,  but  righteous  living  here.  It 
means  righteous  fathers  and  mothers,  right- 
eous homes,  righteous  teachers,  righteous 
pupils,  righteous  business  men,  righteous 
politicians,  righteous  governments,  right- 
eous international  relations,  righteous  work, 
and  righteous  pleasures.  It  means  that  ulti- 
mately prophetic  visions  are  to  be  realized, 
when  "  holiness  to  the  Lord  "  will  be  en- 
graved on  the  bridles  of  our  horses, 
blazoned  in  large  signs  over  our  homes  and 
stores,  and  set  as  mottoes  in  our  factories 
and  government  buildings.  Or,  if  we 
change  the  prophetic  pictures  to  Christ's 
teaching,  the  leaven  of  righteousness  is  to 
pervade  the  whole  lump  of  human  relation- 
ships. 

Not  until  the  theory  of  evolution  sug- 
gested the  time  element  and  called  atten- 
tion to  the  long,  gradual  process  of  social 
uplift,  did  men  in  large  numbers  abandon 
the  ideas  of  a  sudden  cataclasmic  ending  of 
all  mundane  things,  as  suggested  by  the 
literal  interpretation  of  the  pictorial  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  and  adequately  devote 
themselves  to  the  making  of  a  better  world. 

[92] 


Evolution 

The  social  process,  then,  as  conceived 
under  the  theory  of  evolution,  is  not  only  in 
harmony  with  Christ's  teachings,  but  throws 
a  flood  of  light  upon  them.  Christ  is  not 
apart  from,  but  a  constituent  factor  in,  that 
continuous  working  of  God  which  operates 
from  the  first  dawn  of  life,  and  before  it; 
which  unfolds  life  from  lower  to  higher 
stages  until  the  fulness  of  his  thought,  pur- 
pose, and  love  are  realized  in  his  creation. 
Now  it  is  clear  that  the  kingdom  of  God  be- 
gins in  the  small — the  mustard-seed — and, 
by  a  process  of  growth,  fills  the  world ;  that, 
in  the  process,  the  wheat  and  tares  grow 
together;  that  those  who  work  for  right- 
eousness are  not  to  fear  or  waver  when  the 
forces  of  evil  seem  triumphant ;  that  Christ, 
when  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  to  him- 
self; that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  will 
become  the  "  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of 
his  Christ."  In  a  word,  the  theory  of  evo- 
lution, by  emphasizing  the  time  element,  has 
greatly  enlarged  what  men  formerly  con- 
ceived to  be  Christ's  work,  and  has  enabled 
men  in  fuller  measure  to  grasp  Christ's  real 
program  of  redeeming  the  world.  There 
is  no  halting ;  there  can  be  no  turning  back ; 
defeat  is  impossible. 

[93] 


ID 
Gbe  Bible 


THE  BIBLE 


THE  Old  Testament  was  produced  dur- 
ing about  one  thousand  five  hundred 
years,  roughly  speaking,  from  about  2000 
B.  C.  to  about  500  B.  C,  or  from  Abraham 
to  Nehemiah.  For  perhaps  half  of  this 
period  the  early  materials  were  passed  down 
from  generation  to  generation  in  the  form 
of  traditions  or  separately  written  narra- 
tives.  Sometimes  there  were  different  ver- 
sions of  these  narratives,  which  varied  some- 
what in  style  and  contents.  In  the  later 
years  of  the  period  these  different  versions 
were  woven  together  into  about  the  form 
which  they  now  bear.  The  fathers  of  Is- 
rael were  commanded  to  narrate  to  their 
children  the  stones  of  God's  dealings  with 
them,  and  thus  to  pass  them  on  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  (See  Exod.  10  :  2; 
Josh.  4  :  5-7.) 

From  about  the  ninth  century  B.  C. 
the  Bible  narratives  began  to  be  wrought 
over  by  the  prophetic  spirits  of  Israel.    The 

G  [  97  ] 


vibe  Essentials  o(  Chnettanitv: 

materials  chosen,  and  the  form  into  which 
they  were  put,  depended  on  the  situation  of 
the  people  and  the  needs  of  the  hour,  just 
as  the  materials  chosen  for  a  sermon  depend 
upon  the  character  and  needs  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

During  the  later  centuries  of  the  period 
named  the  situation  of  the  Hebrews  varied 
greatly ;  their  spiritual  needs  differed  at  dif- 
ferent times ;  and  consequently  the  Bible 
writings  vary  greatly  in  nature  and  con- 
tent. Through  them  we  learn  of  Israel's 
shepherd  life,  her  enslavement  in  Egypt, 
her  wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  her  con- 
quest of  Canaan,  her  successes  and  defeats 
in  war,  her  faithfulness  and  unfaithfulness 
to  Jehovah,  her  national  prosperity  and  ad- 
versity, her  captivity  in  Assyria  and  Bab- 
ylonia, and  finally  the  return  of  a  faithful 
few  to  rebuild  Jerusalem  and  the  temple 
and  to  reestablish  the  national  life  of  the 
people. 

The  contents  of  the  Old  Testament  were 
produced  out  of  these  varying  conditions, 
and  by  men  of  various  types  and  accom- 
plishments— by  prophets,  poets,  biog- 
raphers, historians,  law-givers,  priests, 
philosophers,  dramatists,  and   others. 

[98] 


Zbe  JBtbie 

Needless  to  say,  then,  the  Old  Testament 
is  not  a  book,  but  a  library  of  many  books, 
which  vary  greatly  in  character  and  con- 
tents. Noah  and  the  Flood,  is  a  good  ex- 
ample of  tradition;  Jonah  and  the  Whale, 
is  evidently  a  great  story;  the  accounts  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Joseph  are  bio- 
graphic sketches;  the  books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles  are  brief,  selected  history; 
Nathan's  rebuke  of  David  for  taking 
Uriah's  wife,  is  in  the  form  of  parable 
(2  Sam.  12  :  1-14),  which  was  Christ's 
favorite  method  of  teaching ;  the  Psalms,  of 
course,  are  poetry,  and  other  portions  are 
in  poetic  form;  Jotham's  rebuke  of  his 
brethren  is  in  the  form  of  allegory,  in 
which  trees  speak  (Judg.  9  :  7-15)  ;  much 
of  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  Bible  is  in  the 
form  of  prophecy,  such,  for  example,  as 
the  books  of  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  and  Jere- 
miah; Job  is  a  drama  dealing  with  one  of 
the  profoundest  problems  of  life;  Leviticus 
and  Deuteronomy  are  made  up  largely  of 
laws ;  and  Proverbs  is  a  collection  of 
maxims,  called  by  modern  scholars  "  wis- 
dom literature." 

It  is  of  utmost  importance  to  note  care- 
fully that  the  Old  Testament  is  composed 

[99] 


Zbe  Essentials  of  Cbrtstianlts 

of  these  different  kinds  of  literature — 
tradition,  story,  history,  biography,  para- 
ble, poetry,  allegory,  prophecy,  drama, 
maxims,  etc. — for  it  is  not  always  clear 
which  of  these  kinds  of  literature  certain 
portions  of  the  Bible  contain.  For  exam- 
ple, men  differ  widely  in  their  ideas  of  the 
literature  which  narrates  the  accounts  of 
the  Creation,  the  Temptation  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  the  Sacrifices  of  Cain  and  Abel,  the 
Flood,  and  other  portions,  some  holding  that 
they  are  literal  history,  others  that  they  are 
traditions,  and  still  others  that  they  are 
poetical  writings. 

The  Bible  Stands  Secure 

These  differing  kinds  of  literature,  and 
these  differing  views,  should  not  disturb  us 
in  the  least,  for  they  in  no  way  invalidate 
our  Bible.  God  makes  his  will  known  by 
different  means.  He  inspires  men  to  utter 
truth  through  poetry  and  story  as  well  as 
through  history  and  prophecy.  His  revela- 
tion is  found  in  parable  as  well  as  in  biog- 
raphy. 

The  one  question  of  importance  is :  What 
docs   the  Bible  teach?     Any   part   of  the 

[  ioo] 


Gbe  JSlblc 

Bible  that  does  not  hold  a  spiritual  mes- 
sage, or  is  not  necessary  to  make  clear  some 
part  that  does  hold  a  spiritual  message,  may 
well  be  discarded.  It  has  no  spiritual  value 
and  does  not  belong  in  the  Bible.  For  pur- 
poses of  illustration  we  may  note  the  fol- 
lowing examples : 

i.  Does  not  the  Creation  Story  teach  that 
one  God,  not  idols,  created  the  world  and 
all  that  is  in  it?  Does  it  not  teach  that  one 
God  created  man  and  breathed  into  him 
the  divine  life?  These  truths  are  basal  for 
all  religious  thinking.  It  does  not  matter 
in  the  least  whether  they  are  uttered 
through  history,  parable,  story,  drama,  pic- 
torial narrative,  or  any  other  kind  of  litera- 
ture. The  whole  point  is  to  get  the  truth 
uttered  clearly,  briefly,  interestingly,  and 
powerfully.  It  is  an  evident  abuse  of  the 
Bible,  and  an  utter  misconception  of  its 
fundamental  purpose,  to  bring  questions  of 
science  into  the  Creation  Story.  The  Bible 
does  not  teach  science,  evidently  has  no  in- 
tention of  doing  so,  and  in  that  fact  the 
wisdom  of  the  Scriptures  is  manifest.  The 
Bible  is  a  revelation  of  spiritual  truth. 

2.  Does  the  account  of  the  Temptation 
of  Adam   and   Eve  need  to  be  history  in 

[  ioi  ] 


Gbe  ^Essentials  of  Cbdattanits 

order  to  teach  spiritual  truth  ?  The  account 
sets  forth  (i)  that  man  lives  in  a  garden, 
in  which  some  trees  are  forbidden  and 
others  are  not,  (2)  that  man  by  free  choice 
may  take  the  way  of  life  or  the  way  of 
death,  (3)  that  man  is  beset  on  one  side 
by  the  voice  of  God  calling  him  in  the  way 
of  life,  and  on  the  other  by  a  voice  which 
strives,  by  deception,  and  by  casting  dis- 
credit on  God,  to  lead  him  in  the  way  of 
death,  (4)  that  the  ways  of  disobedience 
are  often  pleasant  to  the  eyes  and  enticing 
to  the  imagination,  (5)  that  we  do  not  sin 
alone  but  are  tempted  by  each  other,  (6) 
that,  notwithstanding  all  excuses,  there  is 
no  good  reason  for  disobeying  God,  (7)  that 
God  does  not  take  excuses,  but  punishes 
sinners,  (8)  that  the  disobedient  are  shut 
out  of  life's  real  garden,  (9)  that,  notwith- 
standing man's  disobedience,  God  still  loves 
him  (he  clothes  Adam  and  Eve  with  skins), 
(10)  that,  though  man  has  fallen  into  sin, 
there  is  still  hope  of  attaining  righteousness 
(the  seed  of  the  woman  is  to  bruise  the 
serpent's  head). 

Every  one  of  these  ten  truths  is  funda- 
mental for  spiritual  life.  The  marvel  is 
that  they  could  be  so  simply,  tersely  told. 

[102] 


Cbe  JBtble 

3.  The  short  Story  of  Cain  and  Abel 
makes  clear  the  great  truths  (1)  that  God 
is  not  placated  by  sacrifices  offered  by  sin- 
ful men,  and  (2)  that  righteousness  must 
be  conjoined  with  worship.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  these  truths  were  uttered 
when  heathen  cults  did  not  connect  right- 
eousness with  worship. 

4.  The  Story  of  the  Flood  indicates 
God's  attitude  to  righteous  and  wicked  and 
shows  the  respective  ends  to  which  each 
comes :  the  righteous  are  saved ;  the  wicked 
are  lost. 

5.  The  Story  of  the  Tower  of  Babel 
shows  'the  folly  of  men  presuming  to  go 
on  their  own  ways  in  life  without  consult- 
ing God. 

This  series  of  stories  evidently  constitutes 
a  brief  introduction  to  the  Bible,  and  the 
writer  holds  in  mind  the  problems  and  na- 
tional sins  that  are  met  with  in  Israel's 
history.  The  great  truths  uttered  consti- 
tute the  foundation  of  all  right  religious 
thinking.  It  is  significant  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Bible  that  they  are  uttered  so 
concisely  and  clearly  in  its  first  chapters.1 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  these  narratives  see  the 
author's  "  Bible  Message  for  Modern  Manhood,"  Chap. 
MV. 

f  IO3] 


3be  Essentials  of  GbttsttanttE 

Difficulties  with  the  Bible 

I.  One  difficulty  that  we  encounter  with 
the  Bible  is  that  heretofore  certain  parts 
have  been  regarded  as  literal  history  which 
we  find  difficult  to  accept  as  literal.  The 
early  Genesis  stories  just  reviewed,  are  a 
good  example. 

It  has  already  been  sufficiently  shown 
that  the  spiritual  value  of  such  parts  of  the 
Bible  does  not  depend  upon  their  being  lit- 
eral history  any  more  than  does  the  spiritual 
value  of  the  Psalms  or  of  the  parables  of 
our  Lord.  Indeed,  history  is  not  so  direct 
and  effective  a  medium  of  teaching  as  para- 
ble and  story.  In  the  latter  everything  is 
freely  shaped  for  the  teaching  purpose, 
while  in  the  former  the  trammels  of  his- 
toric fact  are  ever  upon  the  teacher.  It 
is  well  known  by  all  scholars  that  the  his- 
tory contained  in  the  Bible  is  selected,  sifted, 
and  somewhat  idealized  for  teaching  pur- 
poses. 

The  author  once  heard  an  able  sermon 
from  the  text,  "  The  bush  was  not  con- 
sumed," the  incident  being  that  of  Moses 
before  the  burning  bush  in  the  wilderness 
of  Sinai.    The  emphasis  of  the  sermon  was 

[  io4] 


Gbe  Mblc 

upon  the  reality  of  the  supernatural.  Some 
young  men  of  the  author's  acquaintance  who 
heard  the  sermon,  were  not  persuaded  of 
the  supernaturalness  of  the  event,  and  con- 
sequently received  little  or  no  help  from  the 
sermon. 

With  the  supernaturalness  of  the  burning 
bush  the  author  had  never  experienced  any 
difficulty;  but  the  fact  that  the  young  men 
were  unpersuaded,  led  him  to  inquire: 
Could  this  incident  of  the  burning  bush  be 
a  pictorial  scene,  a  strong  setting  of  the 
soul  conflict  of  Moses?  If  so,  What  is  the 
prophet  teaching  through  it?  Analysis  of 
the  situation  shows : 

( i )  That  Moses  was  confronting  the  call 
of  God  to  go  and  deliver  Israel  from  Egyp- 
tian bondage,  just  as  every  Christian  young 
man  sooner  or  later  confronts  the  call  of 
God — sometimes  a  great  and  crucial  call — 
to  a  life-work. 

(2)  The  surprise  of  the  situation  was 
that  "  the  bush  was  not  consumed."  Moses 
expected  it  to  be  consumed,  just  as  he  ex- 
pected his  life  to  be  consumed,  worn  out, 
spent  for  naught,  if  he  followed  God's  call 
to  deliver  Israel;  and  just  as  every  young 
man  expects  his  life  to  be  consumed — riches 

[105] 


Zbe  Essentials  of  Cbriatianitg 

given  up,  worldly  success  relinquished,  place 
and  power  and  honorable  position  all  thrown 
overboard — if  he  follows  God's  call,  it  may 
be  into  the  ministry  or  to  the  foreign  field. 

But  in  Moses'  life,  as  in  the  bush,  there 
was  not  a  consuming,  but  an  increasing. 
He  came  to  power,  honor,  and  fame  by  fol- 
lowing God's  call,  whereas  he  expected  to 
be  robbed  of  all  these.  If  he  followed  the 
call  he  expected  the  heart  to  go  out  of  life, 
whereas,  on  the  contrary,  a  service  was 
rendered  which  put  heart  into  life.  Had 
Moses  refused  the  call,  his  life  would  have 
been  consumed  in  the  wilderness  without 
the  world  hearing  of  him.  Because  he  fol- 
lowed the  call,  he  is  above  all  others  the 
law-giver  of  the  race.  The  bush  of  his  life 
was  not  consumed.  Neither  will  the  bush 
of  any  man's  life  be  consumed  who  follows 
God's  call. 

(3)  On  the  other  hand,  out  of  the  bush 
came  the  revelation  of  God — the  voice  say- 
ing, "  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 
of  Jacob."  Out  of  the  bush  came  the  great 
challenge  to  Moses'  faith :  "  Come  now 
therefore,  and  I  will  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh, 
that  thou  mayest  bring  forth  my  people  the 

[  106  1 


Gbe  JBible 

children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt.  .  .  Cer- 
tainly I  will  be  with  thee;  and  ...  ye  shall 
serve  God  upon  this  mountain."  (See  Exod. 

3-) 

Moses  believed  God,  he  accepted  the 
challenge,  and  the  revelation  of  the  bush 
was  reproduced  in  his  life  and  work.  By 
following  God's  call  and  doing  God's  work, 
he  became  increasingly  sure  that  the  God 
of  his  fathers  had  spoken  to  him,  was  lead- 
ing him  and  working  through  him.  A  like 
assurance  of  the  certainty  of  God,  of  the 
verity  of  his  call,  and  of  his  cooperation  in 
work,  comes  to  every  one  who  obeys  him 
and  runs  the  risk  of  his  life  being  consumed. 
The  bush  was  not  consumed ;  neither  will 
the  life  be  consumed.  The  bush  was  a 
revelation ;  so  will  be  the  life. 

(4)  As  Moses  stands  before  the  burn- 
ing bush,  he  is  commanded,  "  Put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where- 
on thou  standest  is  holy  ground"  (Exod. 
3  :  5 ) .  No  place  is  holier  to  any  man  than 
the  place  where  God  meets  him  face  to 
face,  and  challenges  him  to  meet,  by  accep- 
tance or  refusal,  his  definite  call  to  a  life- 
work. 

Surely  these  four  great  truths  are  clearly 

[  107 1 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Christianity 

taught  in  the  narrative  as  it  stands,  what- 
ever be  its  character  as  literature.  What 
more  could  it  teach?  These  were  the  per- 
tinent and  vital  truths  for  Moses  as  he 
faced  God's  call.  They  are  the  vital  truths 
for  every  one  under  like  circumstances. 

Other  portions  of  Scripture,  such  for 
example,  as  the  book  of  Jonah,  might  be 
dealt  with  in  similar  fashion ;  but  enough 
has  already  been  said  to  make  clear  the 
importance  of  placing  the  spiritual  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  first,  and  regarding  all 
other  questions  of  secondary  importance. 

2.  Young  people  often  think  that  some- 
thing is  wrong  with  their  religious  lives  be- 
cause they  do  not  find  all  portions  of  the 
Bible  equally  interesting.  All  parts  of  the 
Bible  are  neither  of  equal  interest  nor  of 
equal  spiritual  value.  This  fact  should  be 
clearly  understood  and  definitely  stated. 
For  example,  laws  of  tabernacle,  temple,  and 
sacrifices,  belong  to  forms  and  customs  in 
which  we  now  have  little  interest.  The 
records  of  the  wars  of  Israel  neither  inter- 
est nor  profit  us  much.  Many  of  the 
prophecies  refer  to  situations  long  past  and 
little  known,  so  that  many  references  in 
them  are  obscure.     This  is  not  to  say  that 

[  108I 


Cbc  Mbic 

such  portions  of  Scripture  are  not  of  inter- 
est to  scholars.  They  are  of  great  interest, 
and  also  of  great  profit,  for  they  throw 
light  upon  past  social  institutions  and  cus- 
toms, and  also  upon  the  development  of 
religion. 

3.  Perhaps  the  young  person's  greatest 
difficulty  with  the  Old  Testament  is  found 
in  the  ethics  which  it  sanctions,  and  which 
are  so  contrary  to  the  ethics  of  Christ  and 
of  the  present  day. 

The  Old  Testament  sanctions  polygamy, 
concubinage,  slavery,  and  the  savage  slaugh- 
ter of  men,  women,  children,  and  animals 
in  war.  It  sanctions  religious  persecution, 
as  when  Elijah  kills  the  four  hundred 
prophets  of  Baal.  The  problem  is  to  re- 
gard a  book  which  sanctions  such  ethics  as 
the  revelation  of  God ;  but  the  difficulty  will 
disappear  when  a  few  things  are  under- 
stood : 

(1)  Christ  plainly  teaches  that  the  Old 
Testament  is  partial  and  imperfect.  No 
one  could  claim  that  it  is  anything  else.  "  Ye 
have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,"  says 
Christ,  "  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for 
a  tooth;  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  resist 
not  evil  "  (Matt.  5  :  38,  39).    Christ  speaks 

[  109] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Cbristianits 

in  similar  fashion  of  loving  neighbors  and 
hating  enemies :  he  bids  us  love  our  ene- 
mies. (Matt.  5  :  43,  44.)  He  said  that 
Moses  gave  certain  laws  of  divorce  on  ac- 
count of  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts. 
(Matt.  19  :  8.)  It  was  the  best  that  Moses 
could  do  at  the  time,  for  it  was  the  best 
that  the  people  could  receive.  Christ  de- 
clares himself  to  be  the  fulfilment  of  the 
law.  Not  until  he  came  do  we  have  God's 
perfect  revelation.  All  that  went  before 
him  was  partial.  Even  God's  revelation 
to  us  in  Christ  is  progressive,  for  we  only 
gradually  understand  Christ.  To  his  dis- 
ciples Christ  said  that  he  had  many  things 
to  reveal,  but  that  they  could  not  receive 
them,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  pro- 
gressively reveal  them.   (John   16  :  12.) 

(2)  That  God's  revelation  to  man  is 
gradual  and  progressive  cannot  be  over- 
emphasized in  this  connection,  for  it  makes 
clear  the  fact  that  the  ethics  of  the  Old 
Testament  could  not  be  other  than  partial, 
and  that  there  is  necessarily  a  great  dis- 
parity between  Old  Testament  ethics  and 
our  own. 

The  situation  will  be  made  clear  by  think- 
ing of  a  child  in  the  kindergarten.     The 

[no] 


Cbe  mbic 

teacher  does  not  teach  him  college  subjects, 
not  because  she  is  unable  to  do  so,  but  be- 
cause the  child  is  unable  to  understand.  A 
child  of  ten  is  not  taught  philosophy;  its 
mind  is  not  sufficiently  mature  to  receive  it. 
And  just  as  the  individual  must  grow  up 
to  the  comprehension  of  certain  things,  so 
must  a  people,  and  so  must  the  race.  We 
speak  of  reformers  as  being  ahead  of  their 
times,  meaning  that  the  people  are  not  suf- 
ficiently advanced  to  understand  and  appre- 
ciate them.  It  is  important  to  note  that 
there  is  a  certain  necessary  order  in  human 
progress.  For  example,  it  would  be  wholly 
beside  the  mark  to  discuss  the  justice  of  a 
wage  scale  while  men  were  still  in  slavery, 
or  conditions  of  peace  while  nations  were 
hot  for  war,  or  human  ethics  before  men 
had  formed  an  idea  of  the  character  of 
God. 

Christ  came  in  the  "  fulness  of  time,"  that 
is,  when  the  race,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  it, 
had  been  brought  up  to  the  point  where 
Christ  could  make  a  beginning  of  his  higher 
revelation. 

Let  us  then  not  seek  to  justify  the  ethics 
of  the  Old  Testament,  but  frankly  admit 
that  the  heroes  of  faith  in  Old  Testament 

[mi 


Cbe  Essentials  ot  CbristianltB 

times  thought  that  many  things  were  right 
which  Christ  condemned,  and  which  would 
be  wrong  today. 

(3)  We  come  now  upon  what  is  perhaps 
our  greatest  difficulty,  viz.,  Did  God  ac- 
tually tell  the  people  to  do  things  which  to 
us  would  be  wrong?  To  illustrate  this 
point  there  are  no  better  cases  than  those 
already  used  in  another  connection — the 
cases  of  Elijah  and  Samuel.  Did  God  tell 
Elijah  to  slay  the  four  hundred  prophets 
of  Baal?  Did  God  tell  Samuel  to  command 
Saul  to  destroy  the  Amalekites  without 
reserve  and  without  mercy — men,  women, 
children,  and  cattle? 

The  Old  Testament  heroes  certainly  be- 
lieved that  God  wanted  them  to  do  these 
things.  In  doing  them  they  believed  that 
they  were  fighting  God's  battles.  This  is 
the  most  that  can  be  said.  But  let  it  be  care- 
fully noted  just  how  much  has  been  said. 

a.  The  highest  point  of  ethics  that  any 
one  can  reach  at  any  given  time  lies  in 
doing  what  one  believes  God  zuants  one  to 
do.  The  specific  things  we  do  are  deter- 
mined by  the  social,  economic,  and  govern- 
mental conceptions  of  our  times,  and  by  the 
degrees  of  revelation  that  we  are  capable 

[112] 


Gbe  Mble 

of  receiving.  These  Old  Testament  heroes 
obeyed  their  convictions  of  God's  will  ac- 
cording to  the  clearest  light  of  their  day. 
This  is  the  utmost  that  any  one  can  do  at 
any  time.  We  cannot  do  more  today.  To 
the  question,  then,  Did  God  tell  them  to  do 
these  things?  the  answer  must  be  that  they 
believed  God  told  them  to  do  them ;  and  for 
men  to  follow  where  they  believe  God  leads, 
is  not  only  the  highest  ethics  possible  at  the 
time,  but  the  condition  of  receiving  clearer 
light  and  reaching  higher  ethics. 

b.  Again,  What  is  the  highest  revelation 
one  can  receive  from  God?  Simply  the 
soul's  persuasion  of  God's  will.  But  is 
there  not  a  difference  between  God's  actual 
will  and  the  soul's  persuasion  of  God's  will  ? 
Certainly.  The  former  is  perfect  and  con- 
sistent from  the  beginning;  the  latter 
changes  with  increasing  light.  One's  con- 
viction of  what  God's  will  is,  depends  upon 
home,  school,  church,  associations,  beliefs, 
and  interests.  A  people's  conviction  of 
God's  will  depends  upon  current  ideas, 
habits,  customs,  institutions,  etc. 

When  we  say,  then,  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment heroes  did  what  they  believed  to  be 
God's  will,  we  affirm  that  they  reached  the 

h  [113] 


Sbe  Essentials  of  Gbrtstianits 

highest  ethics  for  their  clay  by  acting  upon 
the  highest  revelation  that  they  were  capa- 
ble of  receiving. 

A  serious  error  at  this  point  lies  in  fail- 
ure to  understand  the  inherent  difficulty  of 
revelation.  We  usually  think  and  speak  as 
though  God  could  stand  bodily  before  a 
man  and  tell  him  things.  If  this  were  done, 
how  would  God  be  recognized  as  God? 
One  must  be  persuaded  that  it  is  really  God 
who  speaks.  If  God  sends  a  personal  mes- 
senger to  declare  his  will,  the  messenger 
must  bear  credentials,  and  one  must  be  per- 
suaded that  the  credentials  are  genuine. 
Satan  may  take  the  form  of  an  "  angel  of 
light." 

If  God  simply  speaks  to  us  through  our 
consciences,  the  case  is  the  same:  The 
supreme  height  of  possible  revelation  at  any 
time  is  the  soul's  conviction  that  God  is 
speaking.  Christ,  as  we  know,  came  in 
human  form  to  reveal  God  and  make  plain 
his  will.  Some  were  not  persuaded.  They 
said :  "  He  hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad :  Why 
hear  ye  him"  (John  10  :  20).  Others 
listened  to  his  words  and  were  puzzled. 
Some  said,  "  If  thou  be  the  Christ,  tell  us 
plainly"    (John   10  :  24).     Christ  did  not 

["4] 


Gbe  JSible 

tell  them,  for  persuasion  does  not  come  by 
being  told.  At  other  times,  when  Christ 
claimed  to  be  from  God,  they  accused  him 
of  bearing  witness  of  himself.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  Christ  was,  and  is,  a  revelation  of 
God  only  to  those  who  believe  him  and 
are  persuaded  that  he  is  from  God. 

And  so  again,  the  highest  possible  point 
of  revelation  is  conviction  that  God  is  speak- 
ing to  the  soul,  and  the  highest  point  of 
ethics  for  us  is  the  doing  of  God's  will  as 
we  see  it.  These  facts  justify  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  a  partial  and  progressive  revela- 
tion of  God,  and  make  plain  why  the  Old 
Testament  ethics  could  not  have  been  other 
than  they  were. 

How  to  Read  the  Bible 

Every  person  should  own  a  Bible.  From 
his  own  Bible  he  should  read  and  study. 
The  writer,  after  over  thirty  years,  still 
cherishes  the  Bible  presented  to  him  by 
his  mother  when  he  left  home  for  college. 
On  the  fly-leaf,  in  mother's  handwriting, 
are  these  words,  selected  from  the  first 
chapter  of  Joshua  and  from  other  noble 
Bible  exhortations : 

[us] 


Zbe  JEssenttate  of  CbttettanltE 

My  son,  be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage; 
fear  not,  nor  be  afraid;  for  the  Lord  thy 
God,  he  it  is  that  doth  go  with  thee;  he 
will  not  fail  thee  nor  forsake  thee. 

My  son,  only  be  faithful ;  be  steadfast, 

immovable;  watch  ye;  stand  fast  in  the 

faith;  quit  you  like  men;  be  strong,  that 

ye  may  walk  worthy  of  the  high  vocation 

wherewith  he  hath  called  you. 

Mother. 

This  Bible  was  used  as  long  as  it  was 
usable,  and  is  now  preserved  as  a  keep- 
sake. 

One  should  have  a  system  of  marking  the 
passages  that  especially  appeal  to  him,  being 
careful  not  to  mark  too  freely,  lest  the 
abundance  of  marks  divest  them  of  signifi- 
cance. The  portions  marked  one  will  read 
repeatedly,  and  from  these  one  will  derive 
the  most  benefit.  The  author  has  marked  a 
few  Psalms,  the  whole  of  which  were  help- 
ful, like  the  twenty-third,  thirty-seventh, 
and  a  few  others,  with  a  simple  check  (x) 
beside  the  chapter  number.  In  other 
Psalms  he  marks  a  verse,  a  portion  of  a 
verse,  or  a  few  verses,  with  a  pencil  line 
on  the  side  margin.  He  never  reads  the 
Scriptures  with  more  pleasure  and  profit 
than  when  he  glances  through  the  pages 

[1161 


Qbe  JSible 

rapidly,  reading  only  these  marked  por- 
tions. 

One  should  read  one's  Bible  for  at  least 
three  purposes,  the  purpose  determining  the 
method  of  reading: 

I.  One  should  read  for  spiritual  food. 
Just  as  a  mature  person  eats  the  food  that 
he  likes,  and  finds  that  such  food  agrees 
with  him  best  and  nourishes  him  most,  so 
for  spiritual  nourishment,  he  should  read 
those  portions  of  Scripture  which  appeal 
to  him,  find  him,  give  him  spiritual  exhila- 
ration, reenforce  his  will,  and  deepen  and 
broaden  his  love.  All  parts  of  Scripture  are 
not  alike  in  their  food  qualities.  One  must, 
therefore,  select  and  repeatedly  read  some 
portions  while  passing  over  other  portions. 

One  weakness  of  our  reading  is  a  sort  of 
felt  necessity  of  reading  a  specified  por- 
tion— a  certain  number  of  verses  or  a  chap- 
ter. We  appropriate  more  by  thinking  on 
what  we  read  than  by  reading.  When  we 
have  read  a  verse,  a  line,  or  any  portion 
that  stimulates  thought,  we  should  stop  and 
think,  and  possibly  read  no  farther  at  that 
time.  Sometimes  the  first  verse  in  a  chap- 
ter will  shoot  a  ray  of  light  into  the  mind 
and  reveal  truth  in  a  new  way  and  with  new 

["7i 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  Cbristtantts 

application.  It  is  then  well  to  stop  and  to 
live  that  day  with  the  new  thought.  The 
profit  is,  not  in  the  reading,  but  in  what 
the  reading  brings  to  us. 

2.  One  should  read  the  Bible  for  infor- 
mation— to  familiarize  one's  self  with  the 
contents  of  the  book.  Ignorance  of  the. 
actual  contents  of  the  Bible  is  amazing. 
And  yet,  after  years  of  study,  one  is  con- 
tinually surprised  at  the  imperfectness  of 
his  information.  If  we  master  the  contents 
of  the  Bible  as  we  master  other  books,  we 
must  read  the  Bible  as  we  read  other  books, 
reading  a  whole  book  at  a  sitting — the  book 
of  Genesis,  or  Exodus,  or  Matthew,  or 
John,  etc. 

This  method  of  reading  is  important,  not 
only  to  master  the  contents  of  the  book, 
but  also  to  grasp  the  purpose  and  method 
of  different  writers.  For  example,  one 
contrasts  Matthew  and  John,  Esther  and 
Jonah,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  Job  and 
Proverbs.  In  this  way  one  is  impressed 
with  the  different  character  and  varying 
value  of  the  separate  books. 

3.  Certain  portions  of  the  Bible  should 
be  studied  intensively.  Some  portions  can 
be    adequately    understood    only    by    such 

f  n8] 


Cbe  Mble 

study.  For  example,  the  full  significance  of 
Amos  or  Hosea  is  not  discerned  without 
knowing  the  social,  political,  and  religious 
conditions  in  Israel  at  the  time.  Certain 
portions  of  Jeremiah  have  little  meaning 
for  us  apart  from  the  background  upon 
which  the  prophecy  is  projected. 

Such  intensive  study,  of  course,  takes 
time,  and  at  least  a  few  books.  But  with  a 
good  Bible  dictionary  and  a  few  modern 
commentaries  one  may  make  a  good  begin- 
ning. Suppose,  for  example,  one  is  study- 
ins:  Amos.  He  will  desire  information  on 
such  questions  as,  Who  was  Amos  ?  Where 
did  he  live?  What  was  his  occupation? 
What  conditions  called  forth  his  prophecy? 
What  was  the  purpose  of  the  prophecy? 
How  was  the  message  received  ?  What  ap- 
plication has  it  to  our  day?  To  work 
through  any  portion  of  Scripture  in  this 
way  gives  it  a  grip  on  one  which  nothing 
else  can  do,  and  so  fixes  it  in  memory  as  to 
make  it  a  lifelong  possession. 

It  is  of  utmost  importance  to  read  the 
Bible  daily.  Life  is  about  nine-tenths 
habit,  and  we  come  to  neglect  the  things 
that  are  not  built  into  the  routine  of  each 
day.     Daily   Bible   reading  so  fixes   itself 

f  "9] 


dbe  Essentials  ot  CbtisttanttB 

upon  us  that  we  feel  as  though  a  meal  had 
been  omitted  if  for  any  reason  it  is  crowded 
out.  If  one  reads  a  small  portion  of  the 
Bible  each  day  the  amount  read  in  a  year 
will  be  a  great  surprise.  A  friend  of  the 
author's  read  through  the  whole  "  American 
Statesmen  Series  "  in  a  surprisingly  short 
time  by  reading  three  times  a  day  during 
the  few  moments  that  he  waited  for  meals. 
But  the  greatest  advantage  of  daily  reading 
is  that  it  gives  a  tone  to  the  spirit  with 
which  all  wicked  things  are  out  of  harmony. 
The  Bible  becomes  the  color  stone  of  our 
spiritual  eyes  and  makes  us  feel  that  all 
other  colors  must  be  brought  up  to  it.  The 
daily  portion  that  we  read  is  so  much  spir- 
itual atmosphere.  All  baser  atmospheres 
are  fetid  and  foul  by  contrast. 

We  should  not  be  troubled  if  at  times 
the  spiritual  teachings  of  the  Bible  are  ob- 
scure to  us.  The  Bible  is  like  nature. in  that 
the  understanding  of  it  is  a  lifelong  proc- 
ess. We  understand  largely  according  to 
our  experiences.  The  mother  who  sorrows 
for  her  child  will  understand  what  may  be 
dark  to  others.  Whoever  has  made  great 
sacrifices  will  discern  what  others  will  miss. 
The  depth  and  hidden  -wealth  of  the  Bible 

\  120I 


Gbe  JBtblc 

constitute  both  its   perennial   interest  and 
its  surpassing  worth. 

Go  to  the  Bible  with  your  need,  and  your 
need  will  be  met ;  go  with  your  discourage- 
ment, and  you  will  be  cheered;  go  with 
your  cross,  and  you  will  be  strengthened; 
go  with  your  doubts,  and  you  will  gain  as- 
surance; go  with  your  sins,  and  you  will 
find  rebuke  and  correction;  go  repentant, 
and  you  will  meet  forgiveness.  At  all  times 
you  will  find  God,  who  by  his  word  will 
nourish  your  spiritual  life  and  stimulate 
you  to  loving  service. 


[121] 


1D1 
prater 


PRAYER 


Problems  of  Prayer 

The  older  we  grow,  the  simpler  we  be- 
come, and  the  more  we  realize  that  the  best 
living  does  not  depend  upon  the  solution  of 
all  our  problems.  But  young  people  want 
problems  settled,  not  realizing  that  where 
one  problem  is  settled  two  spring  up  in  its 
place.  Problems  furnish  us  means  of 
growth.  When  we  have  settled  some,  others 
project  us  into  larger  fields  of  thought 
where  more  difficulties  await  us.  We  do 
not  insist  upon  explanations  of  digestion 
and  assimilation  before  eating,  upon  under- 
standing electricity  before  lighting  the 
house,  or  upon  mastering  the  engine  before 
riding  in  the  cars.  We  should  follow  the 
same  methods  in  religion  as  in  the  rest  of 
life. 

Several  definite  religious  problems  are  in- 
volved in  prayer,  and  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
sider them  first. 


I25] 


$be  Essentials  ot  Cbrtstianits 

i.  Young  men  have  sometimes  said  to  the 
writer,  "  I  do  not  seem  to  get  hold  of  any- 
thing when  I  pray." 

Possibly  some  make  the  same  mistake 
about  prayer  that  others  make  about  con- 
version. Some  form  ideas  of  the  conver- 
sion experience  beforehand  by  hearing  the 
experience  of  others,  and  then  think  that 
they  are  not  converted  unless  the  other's  ex- 
perience is  duplicated  in  their  own.  Some 
likewise  form  ideas  beforehand  of  the  feel- 
ings they  ought  to  have  in  prayer,  and  then 
think  that  prayer  is  meaningless  unless  they 
have  those  feelings. 

In  conversion  one  must  make  full  sur- 
render to  God  and  take  whatever  experi- 
ences come.  So  also  in  prayer,  one  must 
pour  out  one's  desires  and  requests  to  God, 
irrespective  of  the  feelings  one  has  in  doing 
so.  Feelings  vary  according  to  physical, 
mental,  and  environing  conditions.  Christ 
teaches  that  prayer  is  based  on  faith;  it 
rests  on  confidence  in  God ;  and  his  urgence 
to  prayer,  and  even  to  importunity  in 
prayer,  would  indicate  that  he  has  in  mind 
our  rising  and  falling  tides  of  feeling  with 
reference  to  it  and  seeks  to  make  resort  to 
him  independent  of  the  flow  of  emotion. 

[126] 


prater 

2.  "  If  God  knows  what  we  want  before 
we  ask,"  some  say,  "  why  ask?  " 

We  are  ignorant  of  methods  of  knowing 
beyond  our  own  experiences.  In  human 
experience,  the  nearest  approach  to  prayer 
is  the  asking  of  children.  They  ask  parents 
freely  for  what  they  want,  and  parents  re- 
spond according  to  their  wisdom  and  love. 
Our  difficulty  here  is  not  one  of  life  but  of 
logic.  The  parent's  knowledge  does  not 
preclude  the  child's  asking.  Life  is  not 
lived  by  logic.  We  contrast  God  with  men, 
saying:  "  Man  is  finite,  but  God  is  infinite; 
man  is  limited  in  knowledge,  but  God  is 
omniscient ; "  and  then  we  presume  to  es- 
tablish life  relations  between  ourselves  and 
God  upon  the  logical  basis  of  our  own  defi- 
nitions. The  method  is  absurd.  Love  de- 
fies logic ;  faith  ignores  logic  ;  even  our  ordi- 
nary thinking  processes,  when  checked  up 
by  formal  syllogisms,  are  found  to  be  more 
than  half  wrong.  Life  in  a  logical  strait- 
jacket  would  be  a  dwarfed  and  pigmy  thing, 
whereas  it  is  intended  to  be  free  and  grow- 
ing, entering  into  the  personal  relations  of 
faith  and  love  where  logic  is  a  stranger. 

Man  has  been  redefining  God  from  the 
early  centuries  of  fetishism  to  the  present 

[  127] 


Sbe  Essentials  of  Cbnsttamtv 

time.  We  are  only  gradually  understand- 
ing Christ  It  is,  therefore,  the  veriest  pre- 
sumption so  to  define  God  as  to  exclude 
prayer.  The  highest  elements  that  we  know 
in  God  are  those  seen  in  Christ — love,  so- 
licitude, care,  self-giving.  Every  one  of 
these  is  directly  responsive  to  prayer,  and  is 
seen  to  be  so  in  Christ.  He  knew  that  peo- 
ple wanted  to  be  healed,  but  in  his  whole 
ministry  he  relieved  only  two  or  three  until 
they  asked  for  healing.  He  knew  that  peo- 
ple wanted  forgiveness,  but  he  never  for- 
gave without  an  expression  of  faith. 

Take  all  asking  of  children  out  of  the 
home,  and  the  reciprocal  relations  of  parents 
and  children  would  be  destroyed;  home 
would  be  cold,  mechanical,  and  unsym- 
pathetic; children  would  remain  undevel- 
oped; the  mutual  understandings,  common 
purposes,  unified  motives,  unrestrained  love, 
reciprocal  helpfulness,  and  glad  cooperation 
of  the  family  would  be  impossible.  Our 
natures  are  so  constituted  that  intercom- 
munication is  a  necessary  method  of  growth. 
This  is  true  in  home,  school,  community, 
nation,  and  between  nations.  It  is  equally 
true  between  ourselves  and  God. 

We  learn  from  psychology  and  sociology 

[128] 


prater 

that  the  mind  itself  is  socially  built,  that 
without  the  mental  interrelations  and  inter- 
actions of  individuals  the  mind  could  -not 
come  to  normal  development.  All  are 
familiar  with  the  fact  that  Helen  Keller's 
mind  did  not  develop  beyond  that  of  the 
merest  child  until  she  was  brought  into  com- 
munication with  the  outside  world  and  with 
other  people.  If  a  babe  were  to  be  left 
on  an  uninhabited  island  it  could  not  de- 
velop mentally  into  a  normal  person.  Such 
development  comes  to  the  babe  by  the  in- 
teraction of  parents  and  child,  the  interrela- 
tions of  children  with  each  other,  and  the 
associations  of  people  in  all  walks  of  life. 

In  like  manner,  and  under  the  same  laws, 
our  spiritual  natures  are  developed  by  the 
interrelations  and  interactions  of  the  human 
and  divine.  The  higher  and  finer  faculties 
of  the  soul  remain  dormant  and  undevel- 
oped until  we  enter  consciously  into  rela- 
tions with  God. 

It  is  a  fact  of  common  knowledge  that 
the  rapid  progress  of  modern  society  is  due 
very  largely  to  improved  methods  of  com- 
munication. It  is  a  fact  of  common  knowl- 
edge also  that  a  non-praying  Christian  is 
a  non-growing  Christian  and  a  non-work- 

i  [  129  ] 


Cbe  ^Essentials  of  Gbrtsttantts 

ing  Christian,  while  Christians  with  warm 
hearts  and  unflagging  zeal  in  work  for 
others  are  men  and  women  of  prayer.  There 
is  little  accomplished  of  a  spiritual  nature, 
either  within  ourselves  or  through  our  ac- 
tivities, until  we  are  in  free,  glad,  and  trust- 
ful communication  with  God. 

It  must  be  concluded,  then  (i)  that  we 
are  not  warranted,  simply  on  the  basis  of 
logic,  in  attributing  to  God  methods  of 
knowing  which  lie  wholly  beyond  our  ex- 
perience, and  therefore  wholly  beyond  our 
knowledge;  (2)  that  the  nearest  relations 
to  prayer  that  we  know  are  found  in  the 
home,  between  parents  and  children,  and 
without  that  which  is  practically  prayer  in 
these  relations  there  could  be  no  proper  de- 
velopment either  of  individual  or  family; 
and  (3)  that  the  best  evidence  of  the  rea- 
sonableness of  prayer  is  found  in  the  spir- 
itual vitality  and  power  of  men  and  women 
who  pray.  Exceptions,  of  course,  are  to  be 
found,  but  those  who  are  doing  the  spiritual 
work  of  the  world  are  those  who  pray. 

3.  Do  we,  by  asking,  change  God's  mind, 
and  get  him  to  do  what  he  had  purposed 
not  to  do  ? 

This  question    assumes    that    God    has 

[  130] 


praset 

figured  out  beforehand,  .and  decided  upon, 
everything  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  time.  For  this  assumption  there  is  no 
evidence  whatever.  All  the  analogies  of  life 
contradict  it.  The  father  does  not  figure  out 
all  the  conduct  of  his  child  beforehand  and 
decide  what  he  will  do  in  view  of  the  child's 
acts.  He  lives  responsively  with  his  chil- 
dren day  by  day,  and  his  conduct  toward 
them  is  determined  largely  by  their  conduct. 
Christ  is  constantly  urging  upon  us  this 
human  element  in  God,  and  insisting  that 
the  heavenly  Father  excels  the  human  father 
in  these  reciprocal  relations.  "  If  ye  then, 
being  evil,"  he  says,  "  know  how  to  give 
good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven 
give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  him  " 
(Matt.  7  :  9-11).  If  an  unjust  judge 
avenge  a  widow  of  her  adversary  because 
she  persists  in  asking,  and  is  therefore 
troublesome,  how  much  more,  Christ  in- 
sists, will  the  heavenly  Father — of  course, 
from  higher  motives — answer  the  prayers 
of  those  who  call  upon  him.    (Luke   18  : 

1-8.) 

The    highest    elements    of    individuality 
that  we  know  are  human  elements.     If  we 

[131] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  GbrtsttanttB 

define  God  at  all  it  must  be,  not  in  terms 
of  logic,  but  by  intensifying  the  highest  and 
best  elements  in  man.  These  are  what  we 
see  in  Christ — love,  care,  self-giving.  If 
we  define  the  relations  of  God  to  men,  it 
must  likewise  be,  not  by  logic,  but  by  in- 
tensifying and  magnifying  the  highest  and 
best  human  relations — fellowship,  respon- 
siveness, helpfulness.  It  is  precisely  this 
that  Christ  does  when  he  points  to  the  rela- 
tions between  parents  and  children  and, 
making  them  analogous  to  our  relations 
with  God,  says,  How  much  more. 

Even  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is  specifi- 
cally taught  that  God's  actions*  are  contin- 
gent on  man's  actions.  If  men  sin,  God  will 
punish ;  but  if  men  repent  and  turn  from 
their  sins,  God  will  withhold  the  punish- 
ment. (Jer.  18  :  7-10.) 

This  contingency  of  God's  action  upon 
man's  action  underlies  the  whole  structure 
of  the  New  Testament.  All  rewards  and 
punishments  are  based  upon  it.  Moreover, 
it  lies  in  the  very  constitution  of  man's  mind, 
and  is  the  only  open  door  to  repentance  and 
forgiveness. 

As  matter  of  fact,  children  in  the  home 
secure  by  asking  what  otherwise  they  would 


Prater 

not  secure.  It  is  not  because  parents  change 
their  minds.  Their  minds  have  never  been 
made  up  upon  many  things,  but  from  the 
very  nature  of  the  case  their  decisions  re- 
main contingent  upon  what  children  do. 
Asking  and  receiving  are  simply  the  nor- 
mal relations  of  parents  and  children.  Elec- 
tricity is  all  about  us  and  available  for  our 
use,  but  man's  cooperation  is  necessary  be- 
fore God  will  use  it  in  driving  cars,  light- 
ing homes,  or  sending  messages.  Man  does 
not  change  God's  mind  when  he  harnesses 
electricity  and  makes  it  do  work  that  other- 
wise it  would  not  do.  On  the  contrary,  he 
fulfils  God's  will,  for  God  has  made  man 
a  coworker  with  himself.  Likewise,  prayer 
does  not  change  God's  mind.  It  is  the  pro- 
duction of  spiritual  dynamos,  the  laying  of 
spiritual  wires,  the  making  of  spiritual  con- 
nections. It  is  man's  part  in  cooperating 
with  God.  It  does  in  us,  and  gets  done 
through  us,  what  else  would  be  impossible. 
Jesus  Christ,  as  already  stated,  wrought 
most  of  his  miracles  in  answer  to  requests, 
indeed,  to  pleading  prayers.  There  is  no 
indication  that  he  would  have  noticed  the 
ten  lepers  had  they  not  cried  out,  "  Jesus, 
Master,  have  mercy  on  us"    (Luke    17  : 

[  133  ] 


Sbe  ^essentials  of  CbristlanltE 

13).  Christ  would  have  passed  straight 
through  Jericho,  leaving  the  blind  beggar 
still  blind  and  still  begging,  had  he  not 
cried  out  for  healing.  (Mark  10  :  46-52.) 
In  no  case  was  Christ's  mind  changed  by 
prayers  for  healing.  He  longed  to  heal 
every  one  in  need  of  healing.  He  simply 
followed  the  normal  methods  for  which  our 
natures  are  made,  the  method  which  God 
evidently  follows  with  us,  and  in  which 
prayer  is  a  working  factor.  It  is  a  method 
which  relates  us  to  each  other  in  the  home 
and  in  society,  and  which  relates  us  to  the 
Father  of  spirits,  a  method  which  is  neces- 
sary for  our  spiritual  development,  and 
without  which  we  could  not  be  normal  spir- 
itual persons. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  great- 
est good  in  prayer  is,  not  in  what  we  get  by 
asking,  but  in  conscious  fellowship  with  the 
divine  Spirit  which  comes  by  asking  and  re- 
ceiving; not  in  getting  what  we  want  from 
God,  but  in  conscious  cooperation  of  life 
and  work  with  God.  The  greatest  good  in 
friendship  is,  not  what  we  get  out  of  our 
friends  by  asking,  but  in  the  growing  proc- 
esses of  friendship-making  which  come 
from  giving  and  receiving  and  all  the  rela- 

1 134  ] 


praget 

tions  incident  thereto.  The  greatest  good 
in  married  life  is  not  in  what  each  gets  from 
the  other  by  asking.  Such  are  but  surface 
things,  and  usually  material  things,  "  which 
perish  with  the  using."  The  greatest  good 
lies  in  the  gradual  and  increasing  merging 
of  spirits  which  comes  from  the  normal 
processes  of  asking,  giving,  receiving,  etc. 

If  now  we  repeat  the  question  with  which 
we  began,  "  Do  we,  by  prayer,  change  God's 
mind  ?  "  surely  it  is  evident  how  shallow 
the  question  is,  how  irrelevant  to  the  real 
purposes  of  prayer,  and  how  apart  from 
the  normal  processes  of  life. 


Prayer  is  Power 

The  proper  test  of  prayer  is,  not  whether 
we  receive  just  what  we  ask  for  or  not,  but 
the  total  effect  of  the  attitude  and  process 
of  prayer  upon  our  lives.  The  test  of  family 
life  is,  not  whether  children  by  asking  get 
just  what  they  want,  but  whether  through 
the  interrelations  of  parents  and  children — 
the  asking  of  children,  with  requests  some- 
times granted  and  as  often  refused — there 
is  developed  in  children  the  best  type  of  life. 
As  indicated  above,  the  virile,  hopeful,  force- 

[135] 


Cbe  lEasentiate  ot  CbrtsttanttB 

fill  working  Christian  is  a  praying  Christian. 
To  be  persuaded  that  prayer  gives  spiritual 
power,  one  need  only  contrast  the  spiritual 
influence  of  those  who  pray  with  that  of 
those  who  do  not  pray.  Prof.  William 
James,  our  greatest  American  psychologist, 
says  that  prayer  is  power  and  actually  does 
spiritual  work.  This  is  not  a  matter  of 
theory  or  logic,  but  of  actual  observation  in 
the  laboratory  of  life. 

We  should  note  carefully,  however,  the 
difference  between  observation  and  experi- 
ment. We  may  observe  the  power  of 
prayer,  both  in  our  life  and  in  the  lives  of 
others;  but  if  we  experiment  with  prayer, 
and  make  tests  to  determine  its  power  and 
efficacy,  we  destroy  the  conditions  under 
which  prayer  does  work.  It  is  as  though 
we  made  a  test  of  love  to  see  if  it  would 
refine  character.  Such  test  excludes  the 
natural  working  of  love.  One  cannot  make 
a  test  of  faith  to  see  whether  or  not  it  is 
powerful,  for  a  test  implies  doubt,  and 
normal  faith  is  not  present. 

Christ  teaches  that  the  prayer  of  faith 
will  "  remove  mountains."  It  is  the  condi- 
tion of  the  joint  working  of  God  and  man 
in  the  spiritual  realm ;  it  is  the  union  of  the 

[136] 


prater 

thought,  desire,  purpose,  and  endeavor  of 
the  human  and  divine. 

By  endeavoring  to  explain  prayer  we 
belittle  it  and  make  it  a  shallow  thing.  We 
need  to  abandon  all  thoughts  of  explanation 
and  realize  that  it  is  possible  for  spirits  to 
unite  in  desire  and  endeavor,  and  by  uniting 
to  reenforce  each  other.  The  heavenly 
Father  can  unite  his  desire  and  endeavor 
with  those  of  his  children  and,  by  doing  so, 
achieve  ends  that  otherwise  could  not  be  se- 
cured. Prayer  involves  all  the  mysteries  of 
human  and  divine  personalities,  but  it  is  a 
means  of  fellowship  and  a  source  of  power ; 
it  brings  us  into  cooperation  with  God;  it 
does  work. 

Chrisfs  Emphasis  on  Prayer 

Christ  prayed.  This  simple  fact  ought  to 
sweep  away  all  our  puerile  reasonings  about 
prayer.  Christ  knew.  He  came  from  the 
Father,  lived  in  constant  fellowship  with 
the  Father,  performed  all  his  works  in  co- 
operation with  the  Father,  and  said  that 
without  the  Father  he  could  do  nothing. 
He  is  our  example  and  Master.  Not  that 
we  would  blindly  follow  example  or  Master, 

[137] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Gbristtanlts 

but  Christ's  example  inspires  us  with  con- 
fidence in  the  vital  significance  of  prayer. 
We  can  safely  trust  and  follow  him. 

While  Christ  lived  in  the  constant  atti- 
tude of  prayer,  we  have  record  of  his  pray- 
ing on  several  crucial  occasions:  Before 
choosing  his  disciples  he  spent  all  night  in 
prayer.  (Luke  6  :  12.)  Before  raising 
Lazarus  he  prayed,  not  a  prayer  of  request, 
but  one  of  thankful  fellowship  and  coop- 
eration with  the  Father.  (John  11  :  41, 
42.)  At  the  Last  Supper  he  uttered  what 
is  called  "  the  prayer  before  the  cross,"  a 
prayer  for  his  disciples,  and  for  those  who 
should  believe  on  him  through  their  word. 
(John  17.)  In  this  prayer  Christ  expresses 
a  marvelous  interrelation  of  spirits,  really 
an  interpenetration  of  spirits :  "  That  they 
all  may  be  one,"  he  prays ;  "  even  as  thou, 
Father,  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they 
also  may  be  in  us.  .  .  I  in  them,  and  thou  in 
me,  that  they  may  be  perfected  into  one  " 
(John  17  :  21-23).  This  union  of  spirits 
in  purpose  and  work  is  the  very  soul  of 
prayer.  Prayer  leads  to  such  union,  both 
with  God  and  men.  In  the  garden  Christ 
prayed  that  the  cup  of  death  on  the  cross 
might  pass  from  him ;  but  he  instantly  sub- 

[138] 


ftraser 

mitted  himself  to  the  Father's  will  in  the 
words,  "  Nevertheless,  not  my  will,  but 
thine,  be  done."  And,  finally,  on  the  cross 
he  prayed  for  those  who  crucified  him, 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do." 

Christ  repeatedly  urged  his  disciples  to 
pray.  "  Ask,"  he  said,  "  and  it  shall  be 
given  unto  you;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find; 
knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you : 
for  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth ;  and  he 
that  seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him  that  knock- 
eth  it  shall  be  opened"  (Matt.  7  :  7,  8). 

The  Lord's  Prayer,  as  we  have  come  to 
call  it,  is  the  model  prayer,  and  should  be 
carefully  studied.  (Matt.  6  :  9-13.)  There 
is  not  a  syllable  of  self-seeking  in  it.  In 
the  heart  of  the  petition  there  is  forgiveness 
for  all  mankind — friends  and  enemies.  In 
the  middle  of  the  prayer  is  a  simple  request 
for  daily  bread.  All  else  implies  the  union 
of  human  spirits  with  the  Father  of  spirits, 
and  expresses  supreme  interest  in  the 
Father's  purpose  and  work — the  hallowing 
of  the  Father's  name,  the  coming  of  the 
Father's  kingdom,  the  getting  done  of  the 
Father's  will,  the  overcoming  of  tempta- 
tions,   and    the    conquering   of    sin.      The 

[139] 


TIbe  Essentials  of  Gbdsttanitg 

prayer  is  breathed  through  and  through 
with  spiritual  companionship  with  the 
Father — not  my  Father,  but  "  our"  Father, 
the  Father  of  all,  rich  and  poor,  strong 
and  weak,  learned  and  ignorant,  slave 
and  free,  black  and  white,  employer  and 
employed,  teacher  and  pupil.  Not  one  is 
shut  out.  "  Forgive  us  our  debts,"  for  we 
are  all  sinful.  Here  is  expressed  a  mar- 
velous human  fellowship  of  confession  and 
forgiveness,  as  well  as  fellowship  with  the 
compassionate  Father  who  forgives.  Into 
such  a  fellowship  no  one  can  enter  without 
becoming  purer,  worthier,  and  more  spirit- 
ually powerful. 

Practical  Suggestions 

I.  Our  prayers  should  not  be  an  effort 
to  persuade  God  to  do  our  way,  but  rather 
an  effort  to  find  out  God's  way.  To  him  we 
should  take  all  our  wants,  worries,  and 
fears,  just  as  a  child  takes  these  to  its 
parents ;  and  then  we  should  receive  calmly 
and  thankfully  what  God  is  pleased  to  give. 
To  do  this  is  simply  to  recognize  our  own 
ignorance  and  limitations,  and  to  put  faith 
in  God's  wisdom  and  love.    He  knows  what 

[140] 


prater 

is  best;  we  do  not  know.  The  older  we 
grow  the  simpler  we  become  in  our  prayers 
as  in  other  things.  The  importance  of  pray- 
ing to  our  heavenly  Father  in  a  childlike  way 
cannot  be  overemphasized.  We  should  ask 
for  just  what  we  want  as  children  do. 
Christ  lays  great  emphasis  on  the  childlike 
spirit;  and  there  is  no  sweeter  human  fel- 
lowship than  that  in  which  we  pour  out  our 
inmost  soul  to  the  intimate  friend  whom  we 
can  absolutely  trust.  A  like  relation  of 
fellowship,  springing  from  intimate  friend- 
ship, should  exist  between  us  and  our  heav- 
enly Father. 

2.  Prayer  ought  to  be  made  a  daily 
habit,  and  cultivated  as  such.  It  must  not 
depend  upon  moods,  "  lest  we  forget "  and 
neglect.  One  often  begins  to  pray  in  cold- 
ness and  ends  in  warmth  of  spirit,  just  as 
one  often  meets  a  friend  in  indifferent  mood 
and  goes  away  enthusiastic.  Bringing  our- 
selves into  the  fellowship  of  prayer  does  ac- 
tual work  in  us.  It  purines  our  thoughts 
and  desires ;  it  strengthens  our  resolution ; 
it  increases  our  courage.  Just  as  a  discour- 
aged person  feels  better  after  a  talk  with  a 
strong,  optimistic  friend,  because  something 
of  the  friend's  buoyancy  and  power  has 

[141] 


Zbc  Bssenttate  of  CbrietianitE 

somehow  become  his,  so,  after  a  talk  with 
God,  somehow  some  of  the  divine  vision,  de- 
sire, and  resolution  has  come  into  our 
spirits. 

3.  One  ought  to  pray  any  time,  anywhere, 
as  immediate  need  requires.  One  of  the 
author's  football  friends  said  to  him,  after 
returning  from  a  hard-fought  intercollegiate 
game :  "  As  our  squad  trotted  out  on  to  the 
field,  with  the  grand  stand  cheering  us,  I 
just  lifted  up  a  prayer  that  God  would  help 
me  to  play  a  hard,  clean  game ;  and  he  did." 
Such  prayers  keep  one  consciously  in  touch 
with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  bring  to  one 
a  constant  divine  companionship  which 
strengthens  resolution,  balks  temptation, 
and  increases  spiritual  power. 

4.  There  should  be  nothing  in  one's  life 
which  one  is  not  willing  to  take  to  God  in 
prayer.  It  may  as  well  be  concluded  at  once 
that  what  one  cannot  pray  about  is  wrong 
for  him.  A  very  beautiful  young  woman, 
with  a  fine  contralto  voice,  a  member  of  a 
church  choir,  was  offered  flattering  pay  to 
sing  in  the  choir  of  a  larger  church.  She 
was  greatly  needed  in  her  own  church  choir, 
but  was  singing  without  pay.  Although  she 
did  not  need  the  money,  she  asked  her  pas- 

[  142] 


{prater 

tor  what  she  ought  to  do.  Her  pastor,  loath 
to  lose  her,  and  yet  not  wanting  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  her  advancement,  said,  "  Pray 
about  it,  and  do  what  you  think  God  wants 
you  to  do." 

"  Oh,"  she  replied,  "  I  know  what  I  shall 
have  to  do  if  I  pray  about  it." 

The  incident  is  typical.  We  often  try  to 
persuade  ourselves  of  the  rightness  of 
courses  of  conduct ;  we  seek  to  secure  from 
friends  advice  that  will  back  us  up  in  our 
desires ;  whereas,  if  we  should  honestly  and 
squarely  take  the  matter  to  God  in  prayer, 
resolved  to  do  his  will  at  whatever  cost, 
things  would  be  settled,  and  settled  rightly, 
even  before  our  prayers  were  uttered. 

The  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  shows  them 
in  the  garden  hiding  from  God  after  they 
have  disobeyed.  We  all  do  the  same;  and 
it  is  a  credit  to  our  natures  that  we  do  so. 
One  is  rather  brazen  when,  without  shrink- 
ing, he  can  flaunt  his  sins  in  the  face  of 
God.  A  friend  of  the  writer's — a  Christian 
of  noble  spirit,  but  wont  to  lose  control  of 
his  temper — occasionally  became  angry  at 
his  coal-miners,  and  swore  at  them.  For 
some  time  after  these  outbursts  he  was  not 
seen  in  prayer-meeting.    It  was  a  credit  to 

[143] 


3be  Essentials  ot  CbvtsttanitB 

him  that  he  did  not  feel  at  home  in  prayer- 
meeting  until  he  was  ready  to  confess  his 
wrong-doing.  With  our  sin  upon  us  we 
always  hide  from  God. 

Healthy  spiritual  life  is  life  in  the  open, 
with  everything  freely  confessed  to  God, 
and  with  God  gladly  consulted  about  every- 
thing. Without  constant  fellowship  with 
God  the  Christian  life  cannot  be  free,  glad, 
and  growing.  Like  rain  and  sunshine  to 
the  plant,  so  is  unreserved  fellowship  with 
God  to  the  growing  soul. 

Sometimes,  even  when  we  are  not  con- 
scious of  anything  wrong  in  our  lives,  in- 
terest seems  to  die  out  of  prayer.  The 
lethargy  of  spiritual  idleness  is  upon  us. 
We  have  not  "  tackled  "  a  big  enough  job 
for  God.  Undertake  to  win  your  uncon- 
verted chum,  classmate,  friend,  or  acquain- 
tance to  Christ,  and  you  will  be  driven  to 
prayer  because  of  the  difficulty  of  the  task. 
No  Christian  has  undertaken  a  big  enough 
task  until  he  has  undertaken  a  task  that  is 
too  big — for  him  alone.  Undertake  to  clean 
up  your  fraternity  or  college  athletics,  or  to 
set  a  higher  standard  of  morals  in  your 
school,  in  your  company  of  soldiers,  or  in 
your   home  community,   and   you    will   be 

[  144] 


prager 

driven  to  your  knees  by  the  bigness  and  dif- 
ficulty of  the  task,  and  you  will  ask  kindred 
spirits  to  pray  with  you.  But  one  zvith  God 
is  a  majority,  and  nothing  is  too  hard  for 
those  who  trust  and  obey  him. 


[145] 


tDHH 
•flmmortaltt? 


IMMORTALITY 


THE  happier  and  busier  we  are  today 
the  less  we  think  of  tomorrow.  In  the 
early  centuries  of  our  era,  when  Christians 
were  persecuted  by  pagans,  and  disap- 
pointed because  Christ  did  not  return  as 
they  expected,  much  attention  was  given  to 
the  next  world. 

Later  generations  of  Christians,  by  mis- 
interpreting Revelation,  placed  the  New 
Jerusalem  in  heaven  instead  of  on  earth, 
and  made  it  typical  of  a  perfect  heavenly 
condition  instead  of  a  perfected  earthly  so- 
ciety. Until  recent  times  the  cataclasmic 
idea  of  the  world's  destiny  dominated 
human  thought.  For  these  and  other  rea- 
sons the  desire  to  be  "  saved  in  heaven  " 
was  the  moving  purpose  of  the  Christian 
world  for  more  than  a  thousand  years. 

In  our  day  the  purpose  to  be  saved  in 
heaven  is  still  present,  and  ought  to  be,  but 
our  ideas  of  the  relation  of  this  world  to 
the  next  have  been  greatly  modified.    We 

[  149] 


Zbe  Essentials  of  Cbri«tianttfi 

have  reinterpreted  the  Scriptures,  and  see 
the  New  Jerusalem  coming  down  instead  of 
going  up.  We  have  reread  the  teachings  of 
Christ  and  learned  that  he  came,  not  only 
to  save  a  few  in  heaven,  but  to  establish 
a  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  We  have  com- 
pared the  teachings  of  the  Master  with  our 
scientific  knowledge  and  found  that  both 
agree  in  emphasizing  gradual  processes. 
Our  insistence,  therefore,  is  that  Christian- 
ity be  immediately  practical  in  building 
God's  kingdom,  and  this  we  find  to  coincide 
with  Christ's  insistence  on  ministry. 

As  a  result  of  these  changes  the  hereafter 
does  not  hold  its  former  prominence  in 
Christian  thought.  We  have  come  nearer  to 
Christ's  balance  between  this  world  and  the 
next,  and  we  have  acquired  more  of  his 
faith  in  the  heavenly  Father's  love,  which 
permits  us  to  rest  in  the  assurance  that  if 
we  live  rightly  and  serve  adequately  here, 
our  lives  hereafter  will  come  into  their  own 
as  God  has  purposed.  This  changed  em- 
phasis makes  many  appear  careless  about 
the  hereafter,  and  some  actually  become  in- 
different to  it. 

Out  of  such  conditions  the  agelong  ques- 
tion naturally  and  inevitably  recurs,  Is  there 

[150] 


fmmottalttB 

a  future  life  at  all  ?    "  If  a  man  die,  shall  he 
live  again  ?  " 

Immortality  not  Demonstrable 

The  temper  of  our  young,  scientific  age 
is  to  demand  proof.  We  are,  however,  be- 
ginning to  outgrow  this  youthful  absurdity, 
since  no  future  event  can  be  scientifically 
proved.  Doctor  Jefferson  truly  says :  "  You 
cannot  demonstrate  that  the  sun  will  rise 
tomorrow  morning,  nor  can  it  be  demon- 
strated that  you  will  reach  your  home  at 
the  close  of  this  service,  nor  can  you  prove 
that  your  long-tried  friend  will  be  faithful 
to  you  five  years  from  now.  We  build  all 
our  life  on  probabilities.  We  cannot  demon- 
strate anything  beyond  the  reach  of  our 
senses,  or  the  powers  of  the  mind.  Death 
passes  beyond  our  reach." 

The  deepest  and  best  things  in  life  can 
never  be  proved,  nor  the  things  of  which  we 
are  most  certain.  One  cannot  prove  scien- 
tifically that  his  wife  or  children  love  him. 
Yet  his  whole  nature  craves  their  love,  re- 
sponds to  it,  rejoices  in  it,  and  finds  satis- 
faction and  realization  through  it.  No  evi- 
dence is  so  certain  as  this  response  of  one's 

[151] 


Gbe  JEssentials  of  CbristtanttB 

nature  to  some  great  and  fundamental  fact. 
Tennyson  says,  "  Nothing  worth  proving 
can  be  proven,  nor  yet  disproven."  Demon- 
stration is  simply  exhibiting  what  is  experi- 
enced. We  believe  that  the  sun  will  rise 
tomorrow  because  we  have  experienced  its 
rising  all  our  lives ;  but  to  prove  that  it  will 
rise  again  is  beyond  us.  We  believe  in  the 
law  of  gravitation  because  we  have  experi- 
enced it  in  the  past,  but  we  cannot  prove 
that  it  will  continue  another  hour. 

When  one  seeks  to  prove  to  another  he 
simply  endeavors  to  draw  the  matter  within 
that  other's  experience.  .  From  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  case  immortality  cannot  be 
demonstrated.  Full  proof  must  wait  on  ex- 
perience. Assurance  is  what  we  seek.  The 
most  certain  things  are  not  those  formally 
proved  but  those  discerned  by  the  inner 
spirit.  Man  has  a  soul-sense  which  cannot 
be  clearly  intellectualized.  There  are  some 
things,  and  immortality  is  one  of  them,  so 
necessary  to  purposeful  existence  that  our 
whole  nature  cries  out  for  them. 

Dr.  W.  N.  Clarke  puts  human  experience 
in  regard  to  immortality  in  a  nutshell  when 
he  says :  "  There  are  three  stages  in  the 
matter :  the  instinctive  hope  and  conviction  ; 

[152] 


Immortality 

reaction  into  uncertainty,  whether  from  un- 
spiritual  living,  from  scientific  thought,  or 
from  struggling  with  the  problems  of  des- 
tiny; confidence  regained  through  higher 
spiritual  experience,  especially  in  Christ. 
Many  rest  in  the  first  stage,  but  many  can- 
not remain  there ;  many  see  no  farther  than 
the  second  stage,  but  many  cannot  remain 
there;  many  rest  in  the  third  stage,  while 
many  cannot  yet  find  it.  In  the  end,  noth- 
ing but  fulness  of  life  will  most  richly  cer- 
tify endlessness  of  life." 


Belief  in  Immortality  Universal 

So  universal  is  belief  in  immortality  that 
it  must  be  regarded  as  a  spiritual  instinct. 
If  there  is  reason  and  system  in  the  uni- 
verse, instincts  are  indicative  of  the  world 
without.  Wings  are  not  made  where  there 
is  no  medium  to  fly  in ;  the  body  is  not  made 
to  be  nourished  with  food  where  no  food 
is  provided.  Eyes  are  for  light,  ears  for 
sound,  and  love  for  objects  of  affection. 
Spiritual  instincts  likewise  indicate  a  world 
and  a  life  corresponding  to  them.  The  na- 
ture of  the  soul  itself  is  prophetic  of  exis- 
tence in  which  it  shall  find  fulness  of  life. 

[153] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  Cbristianit^ 

Belief  in  immortality  is  found  as  far  back 
as  we  can  go  in  history,  and  few  if  any  liv- 
ing tribes  are  so  low  in  savagery  as  not  to 
hold  the  belief  in  some  form.  The  uni- 
versal experience  of  death  brings  man  face 
to  face  with  the  problem  as  soon  as  he  has 
acquired  power  of  abstract  thought.  The 
conclusion  has  always  been  that  body  and 
mind  are  different  and  separable,  and  that 
mind  is  superior  to  body. 

Conceptions  of  future  life  coincide  with 
the  degree  of  civilization  that  conceives 
them.  The  first  were  crude  indeed ;  the  his- 
toric forms  have  been  many;  but  the  idea 
has  persisted  through  all  degrees  of  culture, 
and  has  increased  in  worthiness  as  man  has 
risen  in  the  scale  of  life.  The  course  of  his- 
tory is  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  human 
error.  Dreams  have  faded;  superstitions 
have  died ;  teachings  have  been  superseded ; 
philosophies  have  been  forgotten;  whole 
systems  of  thought  have  been  relegated  to 
the  mental  junk-heap;  but  the  soul's  con- 
viction of  immortality  has  cast  off  its  old 
forms  for  new  ones ;  it  has  persisted  through 
all  degrees  of  civilization,  all  types  of 
thought,  all  human  experiences;  it  has 
grown  with  the  growing  centuries,  linking 

[154] 


flmmottaUtB 

this  world  ever  more  closely  with  the  next, 
connecting  God  ever  more  fully  with  the 
whole  life,  and  making  all  life  increasingly 
one. 


Objections  to  Immortality 

Scientific  materialists  have  sought  to 
make  soul  inseparable  from  brain,  affirming 
that  the  brain  secretes  thoughts  as  the  liver 
secretes  bile.  They  have  pointed  to  the 
fact  that  the  soul  develops  with  the  brain — 
growing  into  consciousness  as  the  brain 
grows,  showing  youthful  ideas  and  judg- 
ments when  the  body  is  in  adolescence, 
reaching  full  mental  vigor  at  the  age  of 
physical  maturity,  and  exhibiting  waning 
powers  when  the  body  grows  feeble  with 
age. 

That  there  is  a  connection  between  brain 
and  soul,  none  will  dispute,  but  that  such 
connection  is  necessary  to  the  soul's  exis- 
tence, by  no  means  follows,  and  the  evi- 
dence is  decidedly  against  it. 

In  the  first  place,  we  know  the  fact  of 
the  connection  of  soul  and  body  for  a  brief 
period  in  this  life,  but  very  little  about  the 
nature  of  that  connection.     Whence  comes 

[155] 


ttbe  Essentials  ot  Cbcidtianit^ 

the  soul  itself?  Ancestors  influence  it,  but 
it  is  different  from  all  ancestors.  Whence 
the  genius  or  prophet?  How  comes  the 
man  in  the  fulness  of  time,  when  history  is 
waxing  to  a  crisis — a  Lincoln,  a  Washing- 
ton, a  Paul,  or  the  Christ  ?  With  the  single 
exception  of  temporary  dependence,  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  relation  of  spirit  to  flesh, 
and  do  not  know  that  the  connection  is  a 
necessary  one. 

Doctor  Jefferson,  like  many  others,  makes 
the  brain  the  instrument  of  the  mind.  He 
likens  the  brain  to  an  organ  on  which  the 
musician  plays.  The  organ  is  not  the  musi- 
cian, and  the  connection  between  the  two  is 
not  necessary,  except  to  produce  music  for 
human  ears.  The  organ  does  not  produce 
music,  but  transmits  it.  The  music  is  in  the 
player.  Likewise  thought  is  of  the  soul, 
and  the  brain  transmits  it  and  renders  it 
available  for  us  in  our  present  state.  Just 
as  an  injury  to  the  organ  impairs  the  music, 
so  an  injury  to  the  brain  impairs  thought; 
but  neither  the  musician  nor  the  thinker  is 
thereby  impaired. 

The  soul  is  conscious  of  being  different 
from  and  superior  to  the  body.  It  exercises 
the  body,  trains  it,  disciplines  it,  handles  it, 

[  156  ] 


Immortality 

molds  it,  compels  it  to  undergo  sacrifice  and 
punishment.  It  wrestles  to  overcome  and 
subdue  the  body,  and  is  distinctly  conscious 
of  victory  when  successful  and  of  defeat 
when  unsuccessful. 

The  physiologists  tells  us  that  the  sub- 
stance of  the  body  changes  every  few  years, 
including  our  brain  substance;  yet  indi- 
vidual consciousness  persists  through  all 
changes.  It  would  be  only  a  natural 
sequence  for  the  soul  to  disengage  itself  en- 
tirely from  the  body  in  death,  thus  casting 
off  the  earthly  instrument  which  it  has  con- 
stantly used  and  repeatedly  renewed.  The 
whole  life  situation  points  to  the  connection 
of  soul  and  body  in  this  world  as  tem- 
porary, and  for  the  purpose  of  developing 
the  spirit  for  a  higher  existence.  When  we 
think  of  what  the  soul  is — its  thoughts,  as- 
pirations, resolutions,  memories,  sympathies, 
loves,  antipathies,  strivings,  and  ideals — and 
contrast  it  with  what  the  body  is,  the  sub- 
jection of  soul  to  body  is  seen  to  be  absurd, 
and  that  the  soul  should  perish  with  the 
body  impossible. 

A  second  objection  to  immortality  is  that 
we  cannot  see  the  spirit  depart  at  death. 
Strange  to  say,  this  objection  comes  most 

[157] 


Gbe  Bssenttate  ot  dbttetianitE 

frequently  from  those  who  have  much  to  do 
with  death — physicians,  nurses,  undertak- 
ers, and  those  who  see  much  of  death  in  all 
its  ghastliness  on  battlefields. 

This  objection  is  not  one  of  modern 
science,  except  when  scientists  are  inclined 
to  materialism.  It  is  an  ancient  objection 
and  has  no  scientific  basis  whatever.  Jesus 
said  that  the  world  could  not  receive  the 
Spirit  of  truth  because  it  did  not  see  him. 
(John  14  :  17.)  Not  to  believe  in  spiritual 
existence  because  spirits  are  not  seen  with 
physical  eyes,  indicates  little  reflection  upon 
the  common  facts  of  life.  We  are  conscious 
of  self,  but  cannot  see  self;  conscious  of 
each  other,  but  cannot  see  each  other's  real 
selves.  Indeed,  physical  nature  is  filled  with 
mighty  forces  that  we  cannot  see — electric- 
ity, magnetism,  gravity,  vital  force,  and 
scores  of  others. 

Eyes  are  very  crude  material  instruments, 
as  Jesus  indicated  when  he  said  that  men, 
having  eyes,  see  not.  Even  what  our  eyes 
tell  us  of  gross  physical  nature  is  often 
wrong  and  must  be  corrected  by  reason. 
Our  eyes  tell  us  that  people  grow  smaller 
as  they  recede  from  us,  that  streets  and 
railroads  grow  narrower  in  the  distance, 

[158] 


HmmortalttE 

that  a  straight  stick  becomes  crooked  when 
placed  in  water,  that  the  sun  moves  around 
the  earth,  that  cities  are  lifted  into  the 
clouds,  that  there  is  plenty  of  water  just 
yonder  in  the  desert,  and  many  other  like 
things.  Physical  eyes  never  were  made  to 
see  spirits.  They  were  not  even  made  to 
see  microbes  or  distant  suns  without  aid. 
And  with  all  the  aid  we  can  get  there  are 
yet  many  physical  things  that  we  cannot 
see.  The  eyes  are  crude  instruments  to  help 
us  over  a  few  physical  difficulties,  to  give  us 
a  little  pleasure,  and  to  help  us  to  necessary 
training  in  a  material  world.  To  a  spiritual 
world  they  are  no  more  related  than  are 
tasting,  smelling,  or  feeling.  Jesus,  refer- 
ring to  the  perception  of  truth,  said  that 
spiritual  things  were  spiritually  discerned. 
Likewise  the  assurance  of  immortality  must 
come,  not  through  physical  eyes,  but  through 
the  sense  of  the  soul. 

Some  object  that  none  return  from  the 
eternal  world.  This  objection  would  seem 
to  arise  out  of  unwarranted  curiosity,  while 
also  implying  the  demand,  above  referred 
to,  that  we  shall  see  spirits  with  physical 
eyes.  It  fails  to  apprehend  the  real  nature 
of  life  as  a  whole.    Does  the  butterfly  re- 

[159] 


Cbe  Essential*  ot  Christianity 

turn  to  its  caterpillar  state?  Does  seed  re- 
turn to  blossom,  and  blossom  to  bud  ?  Does 
the  grown  man  return  to  his  prenatal  state, 
or  to  childhood  or  youth  ?  Does  civilization 
return  to  savagery?  The  processes  of  life 
are  all  forward.  For  aught  we  know  the 
spirits  of  the  departed  are  all  about  us, 
though  we  lack  powers  to  discern  them. 
"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time,"  yet 
"  in  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being." 

Others  have  objected  that  we  cannot  con- 
ceive of  spirits  apart  from  the  body.  This, 
however,  is  no  objection  to  immortality. 
The  human  mind  is  not  the  measure  of  the 
universe.  There  are  multitudes  of  facts 
which  we  are  aware  of  but  cannot  construe 
to  thought.  We  become  aware  of  electricity 
in  the  lightning  flash,  in  the  shock  from  the 
wire,  or  in  the  lighted  house.  But  apart 
from  these  manifestations  to  our  physical 
sense  we  cannot  construe  electricity  to 
thought,  and  we  have  no  positive  knowl- 
edge whatever  as  to  the  nature  of  its  sub- 
stance, or  even  as  to  whether  or  not  it  is 
substance.  After  being  shown  through  an 
electric  plant  filled  with  all  kinds  of  ma- 
chinery for  using  electricity,  the  author  in- 

[160] 


ITmmortalttg 

quired,  "  What  is  electricity?"  "  Nobody 
knows,"  was  the  prompt  reply.  The  atmos- 
phere is  rilled  with  it;  our  bodies  hold  it; 
we  control  it  and  make  it  work  for  us,  yet 
we  cannot  apprehend  it  or  construe  it  to 
thought. 

The  same  is  true  of  all  physical  forces. 
We  know  them  only  in  a  few  crude  mani- 
festations wherein  they  break  through  upon 
our  physical  senses.  How  much  more  is  it 
impossible  for  us  to  construe  to  thought  dis- 
embodied spirits.  We  have  known  them  in 
the  crude  manifestations  of  the  physical 
body,  and  have  experienced  their  mighty 
power.  But  to  know  them  apart  from  the 
body  is  as  yet  beyond  us. 

Professor  James  aptly  suggests  that  the 
human  nervous  system  is  like  a  great  win- 
dow of  colored  glass  which  lets  in  only  dim 
light  from  the  spiritual  world,  so  that  when 
the  spirit  is  out  of  its  temporary  fleshly 
temple  it  shall  see  more  clearly,  instead  of 
being  like  a  candle  snuffed  out  when  the 
body  perishes.  Such  a  conception  one  may 
easily  and  reasonably  hold  without  demand- 
ing that  our  limited  minds  comprehend  the 
methods  of  spiritual  existence.  Can  we 
think  of  our  soldier  boys  giving  themselves 

l  [161] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrlstianitB 

in  battle  for  life's  highest  spiritual  values 
only  to  perish  in  the  act  of  thus  giving 
themselves,  and  to  have  those  values  perish 
in  a  brief  space?  The  fact  of  immortality, 
then,  we  can  and  do  construe  to  thought; 
the  method  of  existence  of  disembodied 
spirits,  we  cannot  know,  need  not  know, 
and  have  no  means  of  knowing. 

Scientific  Corroboration  of  Immortality 

While  there  can  be  no  scientific  demon- 
stration of  immortality,  numerous  scientific 
principles  and  analogies  lead  toward  it. 

1.  The  utter  difference  between  body  and 
spirit,  and  the  transcendence  of  spirit  over 
body,  indicate  their  different  nature  and 
destiny.  The  fact  that  the  body  perishes 
can  be  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  spirit 
perishes.  Man  is  master  of  his  body.  He 
feeds  it  or  starves  it,  develops  it  or  neglects 
it,  conquers  it  or  becomes  slave  to  it, 
chastens  it  or  pampers  it ;  but  in  every  case 
the  soul  knows  itself  as  superior,  and  as 
using  the  body  as  dwelling  or  an  instru- 
ment. 

2.  Not  only  so,  but  man  is  master  of 
the  material  world  in  which  he  lives.     He 

[162I 


UmmottalltB 

discovers  its  laws  and  uses  its  forces.  He 
makes  gravity  and  electricity  do  his  bidding. 
He  changes  his  environment  and  makes  it 
suit  his  purposes.  Land,  ocean,  and  air  he 
makes  his  servants.  To  think  of  such  a 
masterful  creature  ceasing  to  be  when  the 
bodily  instrument  is  worn  out,  is  to  identify 
instrument  with  user  in  an  irrational  way, 
and  is  inconsistent  with  man's  place,  power, 
and  prerogative  in  a  universe  where  he 
stands  at  the  head. 

3.  Science  knows  nothing  of  the  cessation 
of  force.  One  of  its  well-established  laws 
is  that  force  may  change  form — as  electric- 
ity into  heat,  heat  into  light,  etc. — but  can- 
not cease  to  be.  Apart  from  God,  what 
force  is  greater  than  the  human  spirit, 
which  has  placed  the  universe  under  its 
feet,  discovered  its  laws,  harnessed  its 
forces,  and  made  it  obedient  in  service  ? 

4.  Science  knows  the  world  of  animals 
and  men  as  urged  on  in  upward  progress 
by  instincts.  It  is  a  long  story,  but  a  fact 
recognized  and  taught  by  science,  that  the 
instincts  for  food,  sex,  association,  self-de- 
fense, and  others,  have  worked  together, 
all  urging  the  animal  life  process  upward 
toward  a  distant  and  destined  goal. 

ti63] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Cbrlsttantts 

5.  Man  is  still  governed  largely  by  in- 
stincts. Reason  is  his  baby  faculty,  the 
latest  born  of  them  all.  When  one  gives 
attention  to  the  matter,  one  is  amazed  to 
learn  how  little  our  lives  are  governed  by 
reason  and  how  much  by  instinctive  feel- 
ings, appetites,  desires,  and  passions.  Our 
hopes  and  fears  are  not  dictated  by  reason, 
but  are  often  quite  contrary  to  it.  The 
forces  which  have  urged  the  race  up  to  its 
present  state  have  been  largely  instinctive. 

Man's  highest  instinct  is  his  spiritual  in- 
stinct for  immortality.  Like  love,  desire 
for  companionship,  faith,  and  conscience,  it 
has  been  an  instinct  of  mighty  power,  urg- 
ing upward  toward  a  goal,  which  reason  in 
its  infancy  cannot  make  clear. 

6.  For  the  spirit  to  leave  the  body  and 
assume  separate  spiritual  existence,  is  to 
reproduce  in  a  higher  realm  and  different 
way  what  is  constantly  occurring  in  na- 
ture. All  living  creatures  pass  through  sev- 
eral stages,  casting  off  the  old  bodies  as 
they  pass.  On  this  point  Christ  cites  the 
death  of  the  seed  as  a  precondition  of  new 
grain.  The  egg  is  left  behind  for  the 
larger  life.  The  world  of  the  human  em- 
bryo is  so  different  from  that  into  which 

[164] 


Immortality 

the  babe  is  born  that  the  translation  from 
this  life  to  the  next,  while  sufficiently  close 
in  scientific  analogy,  would  seem  to  be  but 
rising  another  step  in  consistent  onward 
progress. 

7.  Everywhere  in  the  scientific  world  im- 
perfection prophesies  perfection;  and  the 
imperfection  of  man's  powers  in  this  life 
prophesy  another  life  where  they  shall  real- 
ize the  fulness  of  their  possibilities.  How 
immature  are  our  reasoning  powers !  How 
little  our  knowledge !  How  weak  our  faith  ! 
How  deficient  our  insight !  How  dull  our 
feelings  !  How  weak  our  wills  !  Is  this  the 
fulness  of  human  realization?  Is  man  to 
be  no  more  than  the  mere  beginnings  of  a 
competent  personality,  floundering  in  the 
universe  of  which  he  is  the  highest  product? 
Are  his  feelings  forever  to  lead  him  astray 
and  betray  him  to  his  weaknesses?  Is  he 
forever  to  fail  of  the  highest  to  which  he 
aspires?  Is  he  to  be  forever  immature, 
and  never  to  acquire  other  than  a  wavering 
course  in  life,  to  be  forever  without  ade- 
quate goal  and  worthy  destiny?  Science 
can  produce  no  evidence  against  immortal- 
ity, and  many  facts  in  nature  point  directly 
to  it. 

[165] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Christianity 

Personal  Immortality 

Some,  while  admitting  eternal  life,  deny 
continuance  of  personal  conscious  existence. 
The  conscious  individual,  some  hold,  is  ab- 
sorbed back  again  into  God. 

Of  such  process  of  absorption  we  know 
absolutely  nothing.  One  can  influence  an- 
other, but  cannot  hand  himself  over,  or  be 
taken  over,  to  be  absorbed  by  another.  To 
make  such  statements  is  to  use  words  with- 
out meaning. 

On  the  contrary,  our  experience  is  that 
the  growing  soul  becomes  ever  more  differ- 
entiated from  other  souls,  and  ever  more 
firmly  established  in  its  separateness.  The 
processes  of  life  are  away  from  absorption, 
and  point  to  perpetuity  of  individual  exis- 
tence. 

Some  would  make  us  eternal  only  in  that 
our  influence  continues  forever.  Doctor 
Fosdick  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  scien- 
tists have  demonstrated  that  there  are  seven 
ways  in  which  this  planet  may  be  destroyed, 
and  that  in  time  it  must  be  destroyed  in  one 
of  these  seven  ways.  It  is,  of  course,  need- 
less to  talk  about  the  continuance  of  per- 
sonal influence  after  this  planet  and  the  race 

[166] 


UmmortalttB 

of  men  upon  it  have  been  destroyed.  This 
pronouncement  of  science  renders  the  eter- 
nal influence  theory  absurd.  Without  per- 
sonal immortality  the  universe  is  laboring 
for  naught;  it  is  bringing  souls  to  a  high 
state,  snuffing  them  out,  and  destroying  all 
traces  of  their  influence.  Man,  as  the 
crowning  product  of  the  universe,  must  find 
consummation  and  goal  in  permanent  per- 
sonal values.  It  is  unthinkable  that  the 
highest  achievement  of  the  whole  evolu- 
tionary process  should  be  destroyed  in  the 
making.  The  forces  of  evolution  push  to- 
ward the  psychic,  and  increasingly  build 
personality.  Their  adequate  achievement 
can  be  nothing  less  than  personal  immor- 
tality. 

To  personality  both  here  and  hereafter, 
Christ  gave  supreme  value,  and  his  valua- 
tion has  been  one  of  the  dominant  forces  in 
social  development  from  his  day  to  the 
present.  It  has  given  impetus  to  democ- 
racy, inspiration  to  social  service,  and  war- 
rant to  our  convictions' that  every  individual 
has  a  right  to  worthful  life. 

Well  does  Martineau  say :  "I  do  not 
know  that  there  is  anything  in  nature  (un- 
less, indeed,  it  be  the  reputed  blotting  out 

[i67] 


Zbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstianltE 

of  suns  in  the  stellar  heavens)  which  can 
be  compared  in  wastefulness  with  the  ex- 
tinction of  great  minds:  their  gathered  re- 
sources, their  matured  skill,  their  luminous 
insight,  their  unfailing  tact,  are  not  like  in- 
stincts that  can  be  handed  down;  they  are 
absolutely  personal  and  inalienable;  grand 
conditions  of  future  power,  unavailable  for 
the  race,  and  perfect  for  an  ulterior  growth 
of  the  individual.  If  that  growth  is  not  to 
be,  the  most  brilliant  genius  bursts  and 
vanishes  as  a  firework  in  the  night." 

The  forces  of  the  universe  do  not  thus 
end  in  negation.  The  long  processes  of 
evolution  do  not  reach  their  climax  in  de- 
stroying the  personality  which  they  have 
labored  to  produce.  John  Fiske  says  that 
to  deny  the  everlasting  spiritual  element  in 
man  is  to  rob  the  whole  process  of  evolu- 
tion of  its  meaning,  and  that  no  one  has, 
or  is  likely  to  allege,  sufficient  reason  for 
such  denial. 


Immortality  the   Only  Adequate  Sanction 
for  Morals 

Let  any  who  doubt  immortality  consider 
the  alternative.     It  is  not  sufficient  simply 


[  168 


Immortality 

to  object.  One  should  replace  objection 
with  constructive  philosophy.  When  any- 
thing can  neither  be  proved  nor  disproved 
one  has  a  choice  of  beliefs,  and  is  under 
obligation  to  choose  the  best.  One  should 
choose  the  optimistic,  forward-looking,  and 
uplifting  attitude,  that  attitude  which  fits 
the  soul  at  its  best,  which  gives  rationality, 
worthfulness,  and  purpose  to  the  world, 
which  makes  God  wise  and  just,  and  which 
gathers  up  and  preserves  for  one  all  that 
is  most  precious  in  life. 

If  one  choose  to  believe  that  he  dies  like 
a  beast  he  will  live  like  a  beast.  Belief  in 
immortality  is  the  mightiest  moral  leverage 
in  civilization,  involving  belief  in  laws  of 
God  that  must  be  obeyed,  and  a  difference 
between  right  and  wrong  that  yields  dif- 
ferent deserts  and  brings  to  different  ends. 

The  question  is  not  that  of  doing  right 
for  reward,  or  of  refraining  from  wrong- 
through  fear  of  punishment,  but  of  the 
recognition  of  a  difference  between  right 
and  wrong  that  is  fundamental  and  eter- 
nal because  right  and  wrong  build  charac- 
ters fundamentally  and  eternally  different. 
Without  belief  in  such  distinction,  and  that 
such  distinction  inheres  in  God,  and  must 

[169] 


Gbe  JEgsenttate  of  Cbcistiantts 

be  recognized  in  life,  we  could  not  build 
moral  character  at  all.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  belief  in  eternal  life  has  been 
central  to  the  whole  process  of  human  de- 
velopment. If  that  faith  should  suddenly 
disappear,  doubtless  the  momentum  of 
ideas,  feelings,  habits,  and  customs,  would 
carry  us  on  for  a  time  on  much  the  same 
level  that  we  have  reached.  And  yet  even 
this  is  doubtful.  Dr.  Harry  Pratt  Judson, 
after  returning  from  a  mission  to  the  Near 
East,  said :  "  I  saw  in  Batum  and  parts  of 
Transcaucasia  many  refugees  from  Bolshe- 
vism. I  don't  know  whether  we  know  what 
Bolshevism  means.  Some  people  may  think 
it  is  not  so  bad.  But  I  saw  many  who  had 
suffered  from  it.  It  meant  robbery,  it  meant 
murder,  it  meant  treachery,  it  meant  they 
always  murdered  priests  in  the  church  when 
they  found  them.  It  meant  one  time  that 
they  took  an  archbishop  and  burnt  him  over 
a  slow  fire  and  called  on  him  to  get  his  God 
to  work  a  miracle  for  him,  if  he  could.  It 
meant  that  they  have  organized  the  schools 
on  the  basis  of  atheism  and  have  organized 
regular  courses  in  atheism,  so  the  children 
are  taught  there  is  no  God.  It  means  the 
destruction  of  all  our  standards  of  morals." 

[170] 


■ffmmortalttE 

So  soon  do  men  deteriorate  when  they 
relinquish  belief  in  immortality !  What 
would  be  our  state  of  morals  today  if  no 
one  had  ever  believed  in  life  after  death,  but 
instead,  all  had  always  believed  that  death 
ended  conscious  life.  In  considering  so  mo- 
mentous a  matter  the  thoughtful  person 
will  not  be  a  mere  objector  or  disbeliever. 
He  will  push  his  objections  to  their  logical 
conclusion,  and  interpret  their  effects  upon 
the  lives  of  men  in  case  all  men  believed, 
and  always  had  believed,  as  he  does. 

Man's  moral  nature  requires  immortality 
for  its  proper  development.  Just  as  the  boy 
cannot  live  an  adequate  boy's  life  except  in 
expectation  of  oncoming  manhood,  no  more 
can  man  live  an  adequate  moral  life  apart 
from  expectation  of  life  after  death.  Apart 
from  anticipated  manhood  the  boy  lives 
simply  in  the  desires  and  joys  of  youth 
without  taking  upon  himself  those  disci- 
plines apart  from  which  adequate  manhood 
is  impossible.  So  also,  without  anticipation 
of  immortality  man  lives  simply  in  the  de- 
sires and  satisfactions  of  this  life,  without 
taking  upon  himself  those  disciplines  apart 
from  which  moral  manhood  is  impossible — 
the  fear  and  love  of  God,  obedience  to  the 

[171] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstianttE 

will  of  God,  loyalty  to  the  right,  and  self- 
sacrifice  for  principle.  In  a  word,  no  part 
of  life  can  be  lived  adequately  unless  life  in 
its  totality  comes,  if  not  within  view,  at 
least  within  the  grasp  of  faith,  so  that  every 
part  of  life  is  lived  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  whole  of  life — its  worthfulness,  its  pos- 
sibilities, its  eternal  nature,  and  its  relation 
to  God.  Human  nature  is  made  to  a  scale 
so  large  that  this  world  can  neither  contain 
nor  satisfy  it.  It  demands  immortality  to 
make  it  consistent  and  give  it  warrant. 

Apart  from-  eternal  life  Emmanuel  Kant 
found  no  justification  for  our  obedience  to 
conscience.  The  foundation  of  morals  is 
accountability,  the  conviction  that  we  sow 
what  we  reap,  and  that  we  live  in  a  universe 
that  is  just.  In  this  world  we  often  see  the 
wicked  flourishing  "  like  the  green  bay  tree  " ; 
we  see  men  "  sowing  the  wind  "  without 
"  reaping  the  whirlwind  " ;  we  see  right  on 
the  scaffold  and  wrong  on  the  throne.  Jus- 
tice is  out  of  balance.  It  goes  without  say- 
ing that  righteous  men  cannot  be  built  in 
a  world  constituted  in  seeming  unrighteous- 
ness. Reference  is  here,  not  only  to  the 
injustice  which  men  perpetrate,  but  to  the 
ruthlessness  of  natural   forces — the  earth- 

[  172] 


HmmortalitB 

quake,  the  flood,  the  famine,  the  pestilence, 
the  cyclone,  the  lightning  stroke,  and  many 
other  such  calamities.  This  world,  viewed 
apart  from  an  eternal  world,  is  unjust, 
sometimes  fickle,  often  cruel,  and  is  not  an 
adequate  basis  of,  or  discipline  for,  moral 
character. 

If  this  life  is  the  whole  of  man's  life, 
a  proper  and  adequate  philosophy  would  be, 
"  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow  we 
die  " ;  let  us  get  the  most  and  give  the  least, 
for  there  is  no  one  to  call  us  to  account,  no 
final  sifting  of  life's  values,  no  building  into 
character  of  higher  elements  to  be  preserved 
eternally,  no  assurance  that  this  life  is  dis- 
ciplinary for  life  beyond  life.  Such  a  world 
could  not  possibly  build  moral  men. 

On  the  other  hand,  man's  nature  is  in 
harmony  with  the  other  view  of  the  world — 
the  educative  and  disciplinary  view.  In  sin- 
ning there  is  a  sense  of  loss  of  the  higher 
life;  in  sacrificing  for  righteousness  there 
is  a  sense  of  gain,  achievement,  and  victory. 
Christ's  saying,  "  He  that  saveth  his  life 
shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for 
my  sake  shall  find  it,"  is  not  a  dictum  of 
philosophy,  but  an  expression  of  the  soul's 
deepest  experience.    This  consciousness  of 

[173] 


Gbe  J&£6ential6  ot  Cbristianm: 

the  value  of  self -achievement  through  right- 
eousness finds  its  warrant  in  eternal  life. 

Some  object  that  immortality  is  made  a 
reward  for  righteousness,  whereas  right- 
eousness should  be  sought  for  its  own  sake. 
"  Righteousness  for  its  own  sake  "  is  words 
without  meaning.  Righteousness  is  never 
sought  for  its  own  sake,  even  by  those  of 
highest  aspirations,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
rank  and  file,  but  always  because  it  is  re- 
lated to  one's  own  life,  and  to  the  lives  of 
others,  and  is  worthful  in  those  relations. 
We  do  not  look  upon  life  next  week  as  a 
reward  for  decent  living  this  week.  We 
view  life  this  week  and  next  as  one,  and 
we  are  decent  this  week  because  we  expect 
to  live  with  ourselves  and  others  next  week. 
The  anticipated  life  of  tomorrow  always 
gives  the  major  significance  to  the  life  of 
today,  not  as  reward — and  yet  it  is  re- 
ward— because  life  is  one,  continuous,  and 
because  the  worth  of  life  tomorrow  is  al- 
ways determined  by  the  character  of  life 
today.  According  as  I  do  right  or  wrong 
today  I  expect  to  look  myself  in  the  face  or 
be  ashamed  of  myself  tomorrow.  And  ac- 
cording as  I  live  worthily  here  I  expect  life 
to  be  worthful  hereafter.     It  is  life  here- 


174 


1Tmmortaltt£ 

after  that  gives  moral  significance  to  life 
here. 

"  Immortality,"  says  Doctor  Denney,  "  is 
a  stupendous  idea  when  we  really  take  it  in ; 
and  to  grasp  it  as  not  merely  an  idea  but 
a  reality  implies  spiritual  strength  on  a  cor- 
responding scale."  How  shall  they  believe 
in  immortality  who  have  not  the  quality  of 
life  that  is  immortal?  Spiritual  things  are 
spiritually  discerned.  The  artist  is  the 
only  one  who  fully  appreciates  the  value  of 
art  and  is  strongly  moved  by  it.  Those 
who  do  not  discern  and  appreciate  spiritual 
values  are  not  much  inclined  toward  im- 
mortality; and  inclination  and  desire  are 
three-fourths  of  persuasion.  "  The  man 
who  has  nothing  in  life  he  would  die  for 
has  nothing  in  life  worth  living  for;  and 
the  life  that  is  not  worth  living  will  never 
believe  in  its  own  immortality." 

Immortality  and  high  moral  character  are 
twin  parts  of  the  same  conception  of  life. 
They  are  necessary  each  to  the  other;  they 
have  come  down  through  history  together; 
and  the  nobler  our  conceptions  of  immor- 
tality become  the  intenser  grow  our  aspira- 
tions for  excellence  of  character.  Doctor 
Snowden  truly  says :  "  The  immortality  of 

[175] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Gbrtsttanlts 

the  human  soul  has  ever  been  one  of  the 
great  hopes  of  the  world,  extending  almost 
as  wide  and  deep  as  the  consciousness  of 
the  race,  engaging  the  thought  of  the  pro- 
foundest  thinkers,  poets,  and  prophets,  pro- 
ducing some  of  our  noblest  literature,  fur- 
nishing the  main  ground  and  goal  of 
religion,  building  strong  and  fine  character, 
and  comforting  the  human  heart  in  its  deep- 
est and  darkest  sorrows ;  and  it  has  not 
withered  under  the  light  of  modern  knowl- 
edge, but  is  still  a  living  problem  of  religion, 
science,  philosophy,  and  popular  interest." 


Death  and  Immortality  Enrich  Life 

While  there  is  not  space  here  to  discuss 
the  matter,  it  could  easily  be  shown  that 
death,  coupled  with  faith  in  immortality, 
brings  into  life  values  of  highest  significance 
for  individual  character  and  human  relation- 
ships. One  has  said :  "  The  seriousness  of 
death  is  the  consecration  of  life,  the  strength 
of  love,  the  spur  to  action.  .  .  Should  we 
have  religion  and  philosophy  if  there  were 
no  death?  Should  we  have  a  sense  of  seri- 
ousness and  urgency  of  life  if  there  were 
no  death  ?    Should  we  have  an  effective  ad- 

[176] 


■ffmmortaUtg 

monition  to  give  life  its  highest  worth,  to 
improve  the  time,  to  fill  the  \vorld  with  good 
deeds,  if  there  were  no  death?  " 

Let  one  picture  to  himself  two  worlds : 
one  filled  with  men  who  deny  the  Christian 
conception  of  God,  and  believe  that  death 
ends  all ;  the  other,  a  world  where  men 
gather  in  their  places  of  worship  and  sing 
"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow,"  and  pray  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  with- 
in me,"  a  world  in  which  men  plan  and 
work  to  build  society  on  the  principles  of 
Jesus  Christ,  confident  that  when  life  and 
work  here  are  ended,  there  awaits  them  the 
"  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant." 
One  is  picturing  two  very  different  worlds : 
one  filled  with  inspiration  and  hope,  and 
with  a  sense  of  life's  worthfulness ;  the 
other,  a  world  of  gloom,  doubt,  fear,  and 
pessimism.  Not  only  has  faith  in  immor- 
tality filled  life  with  life's  richest  and  best, 
but  the  assurance  of  immortality  itself  is 
life's  best,  the  master  achievement  of  per- 
sonality, which  gives  to  life  its  supreme 
value  and  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
worth  of  the  individual  as  a  son  of  God. 
So   closely   is   immortality   connected   with 

M  [  177  ] 


3be  Essentials  of  Gbrietianitg 

life's  highest  and  best  that,  as  Doctor  Clarke 
says,  "  All  low,  worldly,  and  unspiritual 
life  tends  toward  doubt  of  it,  and  all  high 
living  tends  to  belief  in  it." 

The  Lowly  Origin  of  Immortality 

Some  would  discredit  immortality  by 
pointing  to  the  lowly  origin  of  the  idea,  to 
lack  of  agreement  in  conceptions  of  im- 
mortality, and  to  the  fact  that  present  con- 
ceptions have  been  molded  largely  by  human 
experience. 

These  facts,  on  the  contrary,  greatly  in- 
crease the  certainty  of  immortality.  What 
great  truth  of  philosophy,  religion,  science, 
or  government  has  not  had  a  similar  his- 
tory ?  Every  conception  of  the  human  mind 
was  crude  at  its  birth.  Each  has  passed 
through  many  changes,  been  purged  of 
many  errors,  and  brought  to  worthier  forms 
by  experience.  This  is  our  necessary 
method  of  acquiring  knowledge;  and  the 
more  fundamental  the  problem,  the  longer 
and  the  more  tedious  are  the  processes  of 
arriving  at  the  truth.  Consider  our  concep- 
tion of  God,  our  understanding  of  Christ, 
our  deepening  sense  of  human  brotherhood, 

[178] 


"ffmmottalitB 

our  ideals  of  individual  and  social  charac- 
ter, and  our  valuation  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness— each  was  crude  at  first ;  each  has 
had  its  battles  with  error;  all  have  become 
more  worthy  and  adequate  as  the  race  pro- 
gressed. 

The  Inadequacy  of  this  World 

When  one  considers  the  human  race  in 
this  world  either  from  the  standpoint  of 
self-realization  or  of  social  adequacy,  men 
are  seen  to  be  much  like  children  at  play. 
What  immaturity  we  reveal !  What  folly 
we  perpetrate!  How  we  injure  both  our- 
selves and  others !  What  delusions  and 
misconceptions  we  entertain!  How  short- 
sighted we  are !  From  what  unworthy  mo- 
tives we  act!  How  the  satisfactions  we 
seek  escape  us !  How  much  we  labor  to  no 
purpose!  How  we  fail  of  right  develop- 
ment and  high  attainment ! 

Such  facts  stamp  this  world  as  life's  kin- 
dergarten, with  but  beginnings  of  individual 
development,  and  only  first  attempts  at  so- 
cial adjustments.  The  love  that  makes  in- 
dividual joy  full,  that  unifies  human  desires 
and  aspirations,  and  binds  us  all  together 

[179] 


Zbc  Essentials  ot  CbrtstfamtE 

by  binding  us  all  to  God,  is  in  bud.  Its 
bloom  and  maturity  are  in  the  eternal  world. 
In  this  world  fulness  of  pleasure  does  not 
satisfy;  wealth  does  not  satisfy;  nothing 
simply  of  this  world  satisfies.  The  most 
learned  are  most  keenly  aware  of  their 
ignorance ;  the  most  righteous  are  the  most 
self-accusing;  those  whom  we  hold  dearest 
are  snatched  away  by  death.  When  we 
have  taken  from  this  world  the  most  that  it 
holds  for  us,  all  is  yet  in  process,  nothing  is 
finished.  We  stand  facing  a  future  where 
knowledge  will  be  completed,  righteousness 
attained,  and  love  made  perfect. 

Man's  undying  passion  for  life  is  the  voice 
of  immortality  in  his  soul.  We  tenaciously 
cling  to  life  in  this  world  notwithstanding 
its  work  and  worry ;  and  we  equally  cling  to 
the  hope  of  life  after  death  in  the  face  of  all 
its  mysteries  and  uncertainties.  Toward 
the  close  of  his  life,  notwithstanding  his 
materialistic  views,  Thomas  Huxley  con- 
fessed his  shrinking  from  annihilation,  and 
said  that  he  had  sooner  be  in  hell  than 
annihilated.  How  could  a  man,  conscious 
of  noble  talents,  high  attainments,  and  soul- 
power  and  worth,  feel  otherwise?  Finely 
did  Victor  Hugo  voice  the  passion  of  noble 

[180] 


Immortality 

souls  when  at  seventy  he  wrote :  "  Winter  is 
on  my  head,  and  eternal  spring  is  in  my 
heart.  The  nearer  I  approach  the  end,  the 
plainer  I  hear  around  me  the  immortal  sym- 
phonies of  the  worlds  which  invite  me." 

When  the  body  is  worn  out  and  feeble 
with  sufferings,  we  long  to  enter  that  life 
where  youth  shall  be  renewed  again  in 
higher  form ;  when  friends  and  loved  ones 
have  gone  before  us,  and  this  world  is 
grown  lonely,  we  long  to  rejoin  them,  that 
love  may  be  kindled  anew  and  burn  with 
purer  flame;  when  we  have  grown  wise 
with  so  much  learning  that  the  mysteries  of 
life  have  multiplied  and  deepened  on  every 
hand,  we  yearn  for  that  life  where  the  veil 
shall  no  longer  be  on  our  faces  and  we  shall 
see  clearly  and  know  fully.  Here  we  be- 
lieve, trust,  love,  and  serve,  but  in  and 
through  all  is  the  larger  hope.  All  life 
processes  take  us  by  the  shoulders  and  face 
us  toward  the  future,  where  life  at  length 
shall  be  complete. 


God's  Love  Guarantees  Immortality 

If  there  were  no  God  of  love  we  could  be- 
lieve that  there  is  no  immortality.     But  a 

[181] 


Ube  Basenttals  of  Gbdatianttg 

God  who  would  create  such  a  world  as  ours 
apart  from  immortality,  who  would  develop 
life  by  such  a  long,  tedious  process,  and 
who  would  make  man  to  reach  only  imper- 
fection while  filled  with  instincts  and  aspira- 
tions for  perfection,  would  be  a  cruel  or  an 
impotent  God,  uncaring  or  unable  to  com- 
plete his  creation  and  bring  it  to  worthy 
issue. 

"  It  is  an  intolerable  thought,"  wrote 
Darwin,  "  that  man  and  all  other  sentient 
beings  are  doomed  to  complete  annihilation 
after  such  long-continued  slow  process." 

Although  we  live  in  a  world  of  great  in- 
justice and  manifest  wrong,  we  rightly  re- 
gard God  as  a  loving  Father,  for  Jesus 
teaches  that  there  is  a  world  hereafter 
where  the  eternal  balances  are  struck.  In 
order  to  believe  in  God's  goodness  we  must 
view  this  world  as  disciplinary  and  educa- 
tive. 

With  great  force  Jesus  taught  that  God's 
love  was  the  guaranty  of  immortality :  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  sent  Christ  to 
bring  men  to  eternal  life.  (John  3  :  16.) 
None  should  be  able  to  pluck  out  of  the 
Father's  hands  those  who  are  joined  to 
Christ  in  love.  (John  10  :  28,  29.) 

r  182  1 


irmmortalttE 

Paul  pours  out  his  soul  in  eloquent 
thanksgiving  for  assurance  of  eternal  union 
with  the  loving  God  when  he  exclaims, 
"  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death, 
nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from 
the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord  "  (Rom.  8  :  38,  39). 

This  experience  of  God's  love  is  the-  com- 
mon experience  of  Christians,  an  experience 
without  which  repentance  and  forgiveness 
have  no  meaning.  The  common  experience 
of  alienation  from  God  through  sin,  and 
of  turning  from  sin  to  God,  is  an  experience 
of  God's  love  as  real,  and  as  vivid  to  con- 
sciousness, as  is  love  of  husband  or  wife, 
parent  or  child.  God's  love  and  immor- 
tality coincide  so  inevitably  each  with  the 
other  as  to  make  them  phases  of  the  same 
great  truth — that  man  is  God's  child, 
created  in  his  image,  and  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated from  him  while  love  abides. 

God's  love  and  Christ's  love  bind  us  in 
an  eternal  circle  of  love  with  family  and 
friends.  "Because  I  live,"  says  Christ,  "  ye 
shall  live  also."     Now,  though  the  mother 

[183] 


Gbe  JEssentiate  of  CbttstianitE 

lays  her  child  in  the  grave,  the  stone  is  rolled 
away;  there  is  a  resurrection  morning. 
Though  children  consign  their  parents  to 
the  dust,  they  "  are  not  there,"  they  "  are 
risen."  Those  who  have  loved  and  feared 
and  hoped  and  prayed  for  them  have  not 
ceased  to  be.  To  make  this  circle  of  love 
only  a  temporary  and  passing  thing  is  to 
mock  the  very  soul  of  life.  God's  love  and 
Christ's  love  are  unfailing  pledges  of  im- 
mortality. 

Christ's  Attitude  to  Immortality 

For  two  thousand  years  the  determining 
forces  of  social  evolution  have  been  those 
which  emanated  from  the  life,  work,  and 
teachings  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  quality  of 
his  life  is  recognized  as  that  for  which  all 
should  strive;  his  teachings  constitute  a 
philosophy  of  life  which  is  a  continuous 
revelation,  and  toward  which  society  is 
steadily  moving;  his  work  has  won  men 
from  animalism,  filled  them  with  a  new 
dynamic,  and  set  them  to  work  making  a 
better  world.  These  forces  are  as  cosmic 
in  the  world  of  men  as  are  light,  heat,  and 
electricity  in  the  physical  world.    They  have 

[  184  ] 


IfmmortalttE 

determined  the  direction  of  civilization's 
progress,  and  filled  it  with  power  for  the 
unfolding  of  higher  life. 

It  is  of  first  importance,  then,  in  any  dis- 
cussion of  immortality,  to  note  what  Jesus 
Christ  says  about  it.  What  he  says  is  of 
greater  significance  than  what  all  others 
say. 

Every  utterance  of  Christ's  on  immor- 
tality is  characterized  by  absolute  assurance 
of  its  reality  and  supreme  worth,  as  the  fol- 
lowing passages  amply  indicate :  "  I  came 
out  from  the  Father,  and  am  come  into  the 
world:  again,  I  leave  the  world,  and  go 
to  the  Father"  (John  16:28).  "We 
speak  that  which  we  know,  and  bear  witness 
of  that  which  we  have  seen  "  (John  3  :  11). 
"Before  Abraham  was,  I  am"  (John  8  : 
58).  "  If  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you, 
I  come  again,  and  will  receive  you  unto 
myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be 
also"  (John  14  :  3).  These  words,  and 
many  others  which  Christ  uses,  point  di- 
rectly to  personal  immortality  and  spiritual 
fellowship.  Christ  draws  picture  after  pic- 
ture of  heaven :  "  And  I  say  unto  you,"  he 
says,  "  That  many  shall  come  from  the  east 
and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abra- 

[185] 


Gbe  Bsaentiate  ot  Cbriettanit^ 

ham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven"  (Matt.  8  :  n).  He  shows  us 
Lazarus  comforted  in  Abraham's  bosom 
and  Dives  tormented  in  hell,  with  a  great 
gulf  fixed  between  the  two.  (Luke  16  :  19- 
31.)  He  pictures  the  righteous  on  his  right 
hand  and  the  wicked  on  his  left,  with  him- 
self as  judge;  and  from  his  lips  we  hear  the 
words,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  "  and  "  Depart 
from  me,  ye  cursed"  (Matt.  25  :  34,  41). 
Again  and  again,  with  sentences  as  authori- 
tative as  a  king's  proclamation,  he  teaches 
life  eternal,  and  the  separation  of  the  right- 
eous from  the  wicked  :  "  These  (the  wicked) 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment ; 
but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal "  ( Matt. 
25  :  46) .  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  eternal  life "  (John  3  : 
16).  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath 
eternal  life ;  but  he  that  obeyeth  not  the  Son 
shall  not  see  life;  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him"  (John  3  :  36). 

When  Christ  does  not  speak  of  life  here- 
after in  pictures,  his  favorite  contrast  is 
between  life  and  death :  "  I  am  the  resur- 
rection and  the  life:  he  that  believeth  on 

[186] 


flmmortalttg 

me,  though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live,  and 
whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  on  me  shall 
never  die"  (John  n  :  25,  26).  Crowning 
all  other  assurances  of  immortality,  are 
Christ's  clear  and  positive  teachings.  He 
knew. 


Christ's  Resurrection  and  Immortality 

It  is  not  the  fashion  today  to  cite  Christ's 
resurrection  in  proof  of  immortality,  since 
the  resurrection  itself  must  be  proved. 
This,  however,  is  too  great  a  yielding  to 
shallow  modern  skepticism.  Paul  said :  "  If 
Christ  be  not  risen,  your  faith  is  vain;  ye 
are  yet  in  your  sins"  (1  Cor.  15  :  17). 
He  makes  Christ  the  first-fruits  of  the  resur- 
rection, and  his  resurrection  the  guaranty 
of  ours.  (1  Cor.  15  :  23.)  To  the  same 
purpose  Christ  said,  "  Because  I  live,  ye 
shall  live  also"  (John  14  :  19). 

This  challenge,  laid  down  to  men's  faith 
by  Christ  and  Paul,  should  not  be  ignored 
in  our  thought  of  immortality.  All  argu- 
ments are  in  favor  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
and  there  is  not  a  single  argument  that  will 
stand  against  it. 

"  The  resurrection  is  contrary  to  experi- 

[187] 


Gbe  Eesenttate  ot  Gbristianitg 

cnce,"  men  say.  So  also  in  its  time  were 
riding  by  steam-power,  lighting  by  electric- 
ity, flying  in  heavier-than-air  machines, 
governments  of,  by,  and  for  the  people,  and 
international  leagues  for  the  common  good. 
So  is  every  marked  advance  in  world  prog- 
ress. Indeed,  progress  means  the  appear- 
ances of  things  contrary  to  experience. 

Christ's  resurrection  is  proved  by  ample 
testimony,  by  the  sudden  change  in  his  dis- 
couraged disciples,  by  the  spread  of  the 
gospel  on  the  basis  of  the  resurrection,  and 
by  the  fact  that  the  dynamic  in  Christianity 
for  two  thousand  years  is  belief  that  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead  and  is  a  living  Christ. 
Without  this  faith  the  church  today  would 
lose  its  power;  Christianity  would  lose  its 
passion;  and  missionary  endeavor  would 
cease.  Faith  in  Christ's  resurrection  is  the 
very  soul  of  Christianity.  Those  who  with 
Paul  believe  that  Christ  was  proved  to  be 
the  Son  of  God  by  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  have  done  the  spiritual  work  of 
the  Christian  centuries. 

Christ's  resurrection  is  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  his  claims,  his  teachings,  his 
power  to  renew  men,  his  determination  of 
the  world's  progress,  and  his  present  posi- 

f  t881 


UmmottalttB 

tion  as  the  goal  toward  which  the  human 
race  is  moving. 

Men  are  moved  by  facts,  live,  luminous 
facts ;  and  Christ  alive  from  the  dead  is  the 
most  precious  and  powerful  fact  in  the 
modern  world  to  direct  the  social  evolu- 
tionary process  forward  and  upward.  It  is 
also,  and  by  the  same  token,  the  best  guar- 
anty of  immortality.  Whoever  comes  into 
vital  relations  with  Christ  becomes  aware  in 
himself  of  a  life  so  filled  with  noble  aspira- 
tion and  endeavor  that  it  is  worthy  to  live 
forever,  and  will  need  to  live  forever  to 
realize  its  possibilities. 

The  Nature  of  Eternal  Life 

Christ  never  argued  the  question  of  con- 
scious personal  life  hereafter.  He  took  it 
for  granted.  As  already  stated,  his  favorite 
contrast  on  the  subject  was  between  life 
and  death.  This  contrast  is  perhaps  the 
most  informing  for  us  today,  since  we  think 
in  vital  rather  than  pictorial  terms.  Some 
men  live  simply  for  the  physical,  and  give 
no  place  in  their  lives  to  the  spiritual,  thus 
quenching  their  better  impulses  and  leaving 
their  moral   faculties  undeveloped.     What 

[1891 


Gbe  ^essentials  of  Cbrlsttanits 

satisfactions  could  there  be  for  such  persons 
in  a  spiritual  world  without  physical  bodies  ? 
Physical  appetites  and  passions,  though 
psychically  conditioned,  must  have  flesh  and 
blood  through  which  to  express  themselves 
and  find  enjoyment.  There  can  be  no 
heaven  for  one  whose  spiritual  faculties  are 
atrophied. 

On  the  inside  wall  of  the  Campo  Santo 
in  Pisa,  Italy,  is  a  fresco  of  hell  dating  from 
about  the  fourteenth  century.  Around  a 
table  loaded  with  good  things  to  eat,  stand 
a  group  of  pot-bellied  men.  They  are  raven- 
ously hungry,  but  they  cannot  eat,  for  they 
are  in  the  spirit  world  and  without  physical 
bodies.  On  earth  they  were  gluttons,  and 
their  greatest  enjoyment,  the  satisfying  of 
the  physical  appetite.  Now  appetite  re- 
mains, but  satisfaction  is  impossible.  They 
are  therefore  in  torment,  for  they  have 
failed  to  develop  spiritual  faculties  suited 
to  life  in  a  spiritual  world. 

The  fresco  is  certainly  suggestive.  In 
this  world  we  witness  in  some  the  over- 
development of  physical  appetites  and  pas- 
sions, and  the  withering  of  spiritual  facul- 
ties, until  men  are  "  dead  in  trespasses  and 
in  sins."     In  others  we  see  spiritual  facul- 

[  190] 


•ffmmortalitg 

ties  gradually  unfolding  and  making  life 
beautiful  and  strong.  Thus  the  laws  of  the 
soul  corroborate  Christ' s  teachings,  that 
man's  eternal  state  is  primarily  one  of  spir- 
itual life  or  death. 

From  the  above  it  is  evident  that  eternal 
punishment  holds  no  element  of  vindictive- 
ness,  but  results  inevitably  from  the  laws  of 
the  soul. 

Christ  describes  the  life  of  the  righteous 
hereafter  in  terms  of  this  world's  best,  for 
there  is  no  other  language  in  which  to  con- 
vey it.  He  pictures  feasts  for  the  hungry, 
mansions  for  the  poor,  thrones  for  op- 
pressed subjects,  judgment-seats  for  the 
wronged,  and  life  with  Christ  for  those  who 
love  him.  Such  terms,  of  course,  are  the 
language  of  earthly  experiences  and  desires. 
They  give  assurances  in  terms  that  we  can 
understand  of  abounding  life  and  blessed- 
ness. 

Our  civilization  is  saturated  with  faith  in 
and  desire  for  eternal  life.  Religion  is 
rooted  in  it;  art  glorifies  it;  literature 
radiates  it;  the  graves  of  our  dead  bloom 
with  hope  of  it;  and  the  morals  of  the 
noblest  of  the  race  are  aligned  to  its  de- 
mands.    No  conviction  that  men  hold  con- 


191 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstianitB 

stitutes  such  a  mighty  force  in  the  process 
of  evolution  as  that  of  the  immortality  of 
the  human  soul.  It  gives  worth  to  every 
individual,  renders  to  righteousness  its  true 
and  full  significance,  makes  it  worth  while 
to  battle  for  the  highest  character,  lays  upon 
every  man  the  responsibility  of  helping 
others  to  worthful  lives,  fills  with  adequate 
significance  the  life  and  work  of  Christ,  and 
binds  us  all  to  God  and  to  each  other  in  one 
spiritual  family.  It  gives  us  a  God  that 
we  can  truly  reverence  and  sincerely  love; 
and  it  places  us  in  a  rational  universe  where 
human  experiences  are  susceptible  of  worthy 
and  purposeful  interpretation. 


[  192 


D1I1M 

Gbe  Cburcb 


THE  CHURCH 


BY  the  church  is  meant  a  company  of 
Christians  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  propagating  the  gospel.  The  propaga- 
tion, of  course,  may  take  different  directions 
and  have  different  phases  of  emphasis. 
Some  groups  of  Christians,  organized  as 
churches,  emphasize  evangelism,  others  edu- 
cation, others  social  work,  and  some  still 
other  phases  of  religious  life  and  activity. 
The  first  Christian  churches  were  com- 
posed of  the  disciples  of  our  Lord  and  those 
who  were  added  as  the  gospel  was  preached. 
The  mother  church  was  at  Jerusalem,  and 
for  a  time  all  smaller  churches  looked  to 
her  for  more  or  less  guidance.  To  the 
Jerusalem  church  Peter  reported  after  se- 
curing converts  in  the  household  of  Corne- 
lius. (Acts  ii.)  To  it  Paul  gave  account 
of  his  work,  bringing  problems  from 
churches  which  he  had  founded,  and  to  it 
he  carried  a  collection  for  the  help  of  poor 
members.  (Acts  15;  1  Cor.  16  :  1-8.)    Paul 

[195] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  GbristianttB 

established  churches  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia, 
Iconium,  Lystra,  Derbe,  Ephesus,  Philippi, 
Thessalonica,  Berea,  Corinth,  and  possibly 
other  places. 

As  the  centuries  swept  on,  Rome,  the 
dominant  city  of  the  Mediterranean  world, 
became  the  chief  church  center,  with  pope, 
bishops,  priests,  and  other  functionaries, 
and  with  centralized  control  over  practically 
all  lesser  churches.  Under  this  regime  the 
church  became  known  as  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church.  This  same  type  of  organiza- 
tion has  continued  through  all  succeeding 
centuries 'and  continues  today  for  all  Catho- 
lics. 

From  the  first  tendencies  toward  central- 
ization, however,  the  Christians  of  the 
Eastern  Mediterranean  challenged  the  au- 
thority of  Rome,  and  a  second  center  of 
power  was  finally  established  at  Constan- 
tinople, resulting  at  length  in  the  separa- 
tion of  eastern  and  western  Catholics,  the 
eastern  branch  being  called  Greek  Catholics, 
and  the  western,  Roman  Catholics. 

From  the  sixteenth  century  onward  the 
western  Christian  world  has  been  charac- 
terized by  numerous  reformations  and  re- 
vivals, resulting  in   the  separation  of  the 

[i96] 


£be  Cbutcb 

Lutheran  and  Episcopal  Churches  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  subsequently 
in  the  separation,  for  various  reasons,  of 
other  denominations,  principally  from  the 
Lutheran  and  Episcopal  Churches. 

The  Church  a  Groiving  Institution 

From  the  above  brief  historic  sketch  it  is 
evident  that  through  all  the  centuries  the 
church  has  grown.  Everything  alive 
grows — governments,  schools,  industries, 
churches. 

Christ  repeatedly  likened  the  kingdom  of 
God  to  growing  things — the  mustard-seed; 
the  wheat  and  tares  growing  together;  the 
sower  sowing  on  all  kinds  of  soil,  and  reap- 
ing harvests  accordingly;  the  earth  bring- 
ing forth  fruit  of  itself,  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear;  the 
tree  in  need  of  fertilizing;  and  the  vine 
in  need  of  pruning. 

Churches,  like  all  institutions  organized 
and  run  by  human  beings,  are  imperfect. 
Even  the  disciples  of  our  Lord  were  not 
all  saints.  Judas  betrayed  Christ;  Peter 
denied  him;  Thomas  doubted;  and  James 
and  John  were  unduly  ambitious.     Imper- 

[197] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstlanitB 

fection  is  involved  in  the  process  of  growth, 
whether  of  individual  character,  under- 
standing of  Christ,  or  social  organization. 

There  are  those  who  stand  aloof  from  the 
church,  insisting  that  it  should  get  its  doc- 
trines and  forms  of  worship  fixed.  As  well 
expect  a  growing  boy  to  stay  fixed  physi- 
cally, mentally,  and  morally ;  as  well  expect 
society  in  general  to  stay  fixed  in  thought, 
ethical  ideas,  and  moral  achievements. 

Within  every  organization  that  grows 
there  are  elements  of  instability  and  con- 
flict; and  if  it  be  a  human  organization, 
there  are  also  elements  of  unrest  and  dis- 
content. Churches  are  no  exception.  Only 
dead  things  stay  fixed. 

If  the  church  is  what  Christ  expected 
it  to  be,  it  will  never  cease  growing,  but 
will  improve  its  doctrines,  better  its  forms 
of  worship,  refine  its  ethical  standards,  and 
enlarge  its  service.  Growth  is  the  inevitable 
result  of  ampler  understanding  of  Christ's 
spirit  and  mission. 

There  are  those  who,  before  joining  a 
church,  would  have  all  "  inconsistent  Chris- 
tians "  cast  out.  It  is,  of  course,  to  be  re- 
gretted that  any  church-member  does  not 
live  in  all  respects  an  exemplary  Christian 

[i98] 


Gbe  Cburcb 

life;  but  on  this  point  a  number  of  things 
need  to  be  said. 

i.  Men  who  complain  of  inconsistent 
members  in  the  church,  often  fellowship 
these  same  inconsistent  persons  in  their 
lodges,  and  do  so  under  solemn  oaths  of 
brotherhood. 

2.  One's  view-point  should  not  be  that  of 
fear  of  personal  contamination,  but  rather 
of  desire  for  helpful  relationships.  Christ 
never  considered  how  he  could  keep  him- 
self clean,  but  rather  how  he  could  do 
others  most  good,  set  them  a  right  example, 
exhibit  before  them  a  humble,  helpful  spirit, 
win  them  from  their  sins,  and  inspire  them 
to  heroic  righteousness. 

3.  Those  who  see  the  imperfections  of  the 
church  are  those  who  can  best  help  the 
church  to  higher  ground  and  enable  it  to 
render  more  effective  service ;  and  they  can 
help  more  by  working  constructively  within 
than  by  criticizing  destructively  from  with- 
out. 

4.  Between  old  and  young  there  is  al- 
ways more  or  less  of  conflict,  and  ought  to 
be.  Age  is  conservative  while  youth  is  pro- 
gressive. In  school  work  young  professors 
urge  the  adoption  of  new  methods  while 

[  199] 


Zbc  Essentials  of  CbristianttE 

aged  ones  cling  to  old  ways.  On  the  farm 
the  children  want  an  automobile  while  father 
insists  that  horse  and  buggy  are  good 
enough.  In  business  the  young  partner 
overhauls  the  plant  and  installs  new  machin- 
ery. So  also  in  the  church,  the  young  never 
think  quite  like  the  aged.  They  differ  some- 
what doctrinally;  they  also  see  new  needs 
and  insist  on  new  methods. 

5.  Young  life  is  the  hope  of  the  church. 
Without  it  the  church  would  soon  perish, 
not  only  because  the  old  die,  but  because 
without  the  young  the  church  is  incapable 
of  adapting  itself  to  present  conditions  and 
becoming  effective  in  service. 

6.  Every  young  Christian  ought  to  join 
the  church — some  church — and  give  it  the 
benefit  of  his  vigorous  young  life  in  a  con- 
structive way.  This  duty  was  never  more 
imperative  than  now  owing  to  our  rapidly 
changing  times.  Religious  institutions  are 
the  most  conservative,  and  it  is  well  that 
they  are  so ;  but  our  times  are  moving  with 
such  extraordinary  rapidity,  and  readjust- 
ments must  be  made  so  speedily,  that  young 
life  in  the  church  is  indispensable.  Christ's 
call  today  is  preeminently  to  the  young,  for 
the  hurrying  century  is  in  their  hands. 

[  200  ] 


Gbe  Cburcb 

All  Life  Organise^ 

Like  all  other  life,  Christian  life  organ- 
izes. There  is  a  difference  between  a  plant 
and  soil-elements,  sunshine,  and  moisture; 
between  a  crowd  and  a  nation;  between  a 
mob  and  an  army — the  difference  of  organ- 
isation. Plant  life  organizes  soil,  sunshine, 
and  moisture  into  plant  structure;  national 
life  organizes  millions  of  immigrants  into 
orderly  society;  military  life  organizes  a 
mob  into  an  army. 

Our  whole  social  and  economic  struc- 
ture is  a  system  of  interrelated  organiza- 
tions— families,  schools,  fraternities,  clubs, 
churches,  Christian  associations.  Even 
boys'  gangs  have  leaders  and  crude  forms 
of  organization.  A  really  live  Christian 
will  either  join  a  religious  organization  or 
form  one.  Failure  to  do  one  or  the  other  is 
a  practical  denial  of  one's  religion,  for  all 
life  organizes.  One  with  a  purpose  joins 
others  of  like  purpose.  One  who  takes 
Christ  as  Master  joins  others  to  do  Christ's 
work.  One  with  Christ's  spirit  seeks  those 
of  kindred  spirit. 

For  twenty  centuries  the  church  has  done 
a  great  work,  and  it  never  faced  more  lm- 

[201] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  Cbristianitie 

perative  tasks  than  it  does  today.  Why 
should  any  one  stay  out  of  the  church, 
criticize,  and  shirk  responsibility  while 
others  do  the  work? 


Church  Union 

Some  complain  of  so  many  churches  and 
insist  that  there  should  be  but  one.  For 
this  reason  they  hold  aloof  from  all 
churches.  This  attitude  comes  fundamen- 
tally from  failure  to  understand  the  nature 
of  historic  organizations. 

Since  differences  between  many  churches 
are  slight  and  relatively  unimportant,  it  is 
apparent  that  they  could  not  originate  as 
separate  denominations  today.  Each  indi- 
vidual church  is  the  perpetuation  of  a  de- 
nomination organized  hundreds  of  years 
ago,  and  for  the  best  of  reasons.  Lutherans 
separated  from  Catholics  in  protest  against 
ritualistic  salvation  and  corruption  in  the 
mother  Church.  Congregationalists  sepa- 
rated from  Episcopalians  in  protest  against 
the  dominance  of  episcopacy  and  to  as- 
sert the  principles  of  democratic  govern- 
ment. Methodism  was  a  protest  against 
the    dearth    of    spirituality    in    the    State 

[202] 


Gbe  Cbutcb 

Church.  Baptists  insisted  upon  regenerate 
church-membership  when  the  common  be- 
lief was  that  to  be  on  the  church-roll  in- 
sured salvation. 

Likewise  each  denomination  has  taken  its 
several  way  historically  because  at  the  time 
of  its  beginning  there  was  needed  some  ef- 
fective protest  against  a  wrong  principle  or 
insistence  upon  some  neglected  truth.  What 
such  separations,  with  consequent  diversity 
of  emphasis,  insistence  upon  religious 
liberty,  and  embodiment  of  many-sided 
truth,  has  meant  to  the  world  will  become 
evident  to  thoughtful  men  if  they  seek  an- 
swers to  the  questions :  How  different  is 
the  world  today  from  what  it  would  have 
been  if  the  Catholic  Church  had  been  able 
to  compel  everybody  within  its  fold?  And 
what  is  the  difference  between  Catholic  and 
Protestant  countries — to  name  typical  in- 
stances, between  the  United  States  and 
South  America  or  Mexico,  between  Spain 
and  England? 

In  many  instances  the  truth  championed 
at  first  by  one  denomination  has  come  to  be 
championed  by  all  denominations.  For  ex- 
ample, while  historically  Baptists  have 
championed  the  separation  of  Church  and 

[203] 


Hbe  Easenttale  of  GbrtettanitE 

State,  all  Protestant  bodies  now  insist  upon 
such  separation. 

But  if  truths  formerly  championed  by 
single  denominations  have  now  become  the 
belief  and  heritage  of  all,  why  continue  sepa- 
rate denominations?  Thoughtful,  earnest 
people  are  asking  this  question,  and  it  de- 
serves a  fair  and  full  answer.  There  is 
room  here  for  only  a  few  considerations. 

I.  Doubtless  there  are  too  many  denom- 
inations; doubtless  also  a  few  denomina- 
tions are  better  than  only  one.  Politics  are 
best  when  there  are  two  or  three  parties ; 
brotherhood  is  fostered  most  when  there 
are  many  societies  working  in  sympathy — 
Masons,  Odd  Fellows,  Modern  Woodmen, 
and  others;  science  and  philosophy  bring 
most  light  to  the  world  when  several  schools 
are  at  work  on  different  theories ;  art  of  all 
kinds — painting,  sculpture,  music,  litera- 
ture^— is  wonderfully  helped  by  new  schools 
of  art  appearing  to  criticize  some  weakness 
or  emphasize  something  neglected  in  the 
old  schools.  Christian  truth  is  fuller  orbed 
today,  and  Christians  are  busier  than  other- 
wise they  would  be,  because  churches  differ 
in  convictions  of  truth  and  methods  of 
work.    Moreover,  different  churches  exer- 

[204] 


Cbe  Cburcb 

cise  a  selective  process  which  is  beneficial 
in  securing  membership.  Some  like  formal 
worship,  others  do  not;  some  like  evan- 
gelistic services,  others  abhor  them;  some 
are  conservative,  others  aggressive;  some 
are  dogmatic,  others  liberal ;  some  em- 
phasize doctrine,  others  social  service.  To 
crowd  these  divergent  tastes,  propensities, 
and  convictions  into  one  church  and  expect 
harmony  and  cooperation,  is  to  ignore  the 
human  element  and  to  overlook  the  fact  that 
the  principles  of  association  in  the  church 
are  the  same  as  those  in  all  other  social 
groups. 

2.  Denominations  are  drawing  closer  to- 
gether, and  already  some  have  organically 
united,  for  example,  the  Free  Baptists  with 
the  Baptists.  This  drawing  together  is  seen 
in  the  cooperation  of  local  churches  for  civic 
betterment,  in  the  dividing  of  missionary 
territory  to  prevent  overlapping,  in  growing 
refusal  to  overchurch  small  towns,  and  in 
the  thoroughgoing  cooperation  of  all  Prot- 
estant churches  in  the  work  of  the  Young 
Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociations. 

3.  Those  who  are  overeager  for  church 
union  are  apt  to  consider  only  their  local 

[205] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Cbristianlts 

situations.  They  wonder  what  holds 
churches  apart,  seemingly  unaware  of  the 
mighty  sweep  and  power  of  world-wide 
denominations,  of  which  local  churches  are 
but  the  smallest  units  of  organization. 

One  might  almost  say  that  denominations 
are  in  the  way  of  the  union  of  local  churches. 
That  is,  not  infrequently  the  churches  of  a 
town  could  and  would  unite  but  for  the  fact 
that  each  of  them  is  a  constituent  part  of  a 
great  denomination.  Shall  a  church  cast  off 
the  mother  who  bore  her?  Shall  it  forget 
its  historic  traditions  and  its  heroic 
martyrs?  Shall  it  renounce  the  fellowship 
in  which  it  has  been  nurtured?  Shall  it 
bury  its  institutional  love  and  pride?  Shall 
it  turn  away  from  missionary  enterprises  at 
home  and  abroad,  dedicated  by  the  sacrifices 
often  of  fathers  and  mothers,  relatives  and 
friends,  and  always  by  the  consecration  of 
heroes  of  the  cross  whom  through  all  the 
years  it  has  been  taught  to  admire  and  ap- 
plaud? If  local  churches  could  be  pulled 
up  by  the  roots,  each  out  of  its  denomina- 
tion, union  would  be  greatly  simplified. 
But  it  is  just  this  rootage  which  gives 
strength  to  denominations  as  well  as  to  local 
churches.     But  for  this  rootage  thousands 

[206] 


Gbe  Cbutcb 

of  small  churches  would  cease  to  exist  where 
they  are  needed,  and  other  thousands  never 
would  be  planted  where  the  need  is  greatest. 
But  for  this  rootage  also  there  could  not  be 
great  denominations  carrying  on  home  mis- 
sion work  and  foreign  mission  work,  plant- 
ing educational  institutions  and  establishing 
publication  houses,  sending  out  evangelists 
and  cooperating  in  Christian  Association 
work,  meanwhile  collaborating  together  in 
nation-wide  and  world-wide  movements  for 
economic  amelioration,  social  uplift,  moral 
improvement,  and  spiritual  renewal.  De- 
nominational organizations  reach  every 
large  city,  have  centers  in  every  State  in 
the  Union,  and  literally  encircle  the  globe. 
They  have  billions  invested  in  institutions 
and  equipment  and  scores  of  thousands  of 
men  trained  and  at  work. 

What  we  have  thus  tried  to  bring  into 
view  has  required  hundreds  of  years  to  pro- 
duce. Every  denomination  has  acquired 
historic  momentum  that  cannot  be  suddenly 
stopped  without  great  disaster  and  loss. 

As  indicated  above,  many  changes  have 
already  taken  place  which  are  uniting  Chris- 
tians of  all  denominations  in  common  belief, 
purpose,    and    endeavor.      It    would   be    a 

]2o;] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Cbttstianits 

calamity  for  churches  to  unite  any  sooner 
than  they  can  come  together  in  fundamental 
convictions,  for  people  without  convictions 
are  without  power.  Without  conviction 
Christians  will  never  win  the  world  for 
Christ. 

The  hope  of  churches  coming  closer  to- 
gether lies  in  their  cooperation  in  work. 
Those  who  plan,  work,  and  sacrifice  in 
mutual  tasks  draw  together  in  sympathy, 
understanding,  and  point  of  view.  There  is 
abundant  opportunity  for  churches  in  all  of 
our  towns  to  cooperate  in  Christian  enter- 
prises for  the  good  of  the  community. 
What  are  our  churches  doing  for  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  town?  What  are  they  do- 
ing to  furnish  wholesome  and  uplifting 
amusements?  What  are  they  doing  to 
provide  for  clean  and  safe  social  life, 
not  simply  for  their  own  young  people, 
but  in  a  civic  way  for  those  who  do  not 
come  to  church?  What  are  they  doing  to 
organize  and  direct  the  play  of  the  town? 
What  are  they  doing  in  night-schools  for 
those  who  cannot  attend  school  by  day? 
Should  the  churches  not  unite  in  providing 
and  manning  a  community  house,  or  some- 
thing akin  to  it?    Should  they  not  unite  in 

[208] 


Gbe  Gburcb 

an  effort  to  Christianize  their  community  in 
an  outgoing  way  far  beyond  anything  yet 
attempted,  Christianize  it,  not  simply  by 
preaching  and  Sunday  School,  but  through 
all  the  channels  by  which  young  people  are 
reached,  interested,  and  appealed  to.  Mod- 
ern community  service  is  many-sided.  It  is 
too  great  a  task  for  any  one  church.  From 
its  very  nature  it  is  a  task  for  the  coopera- 
tion of  all  churches. 

One  is  simply  waiting  for  death  who 
stands  aside,  complaining  of  too  many 
churches  and  waiting  for  them  to  unite. 
One  should  join  some  church  and  work 
from  within  to  get  all  the  churches  busy 
on  some  big,  needed  task.  Cooperation  in 
work  will  unite  the  hearts  of  the  churches ; 
and  when  in  a  few  score  years  or  a  few  cen- 
turies they  are  found  organically  united,  the 
organization  will  doubtless  be  different 
from  any  organization  of  the  present  day. 

Students  and  the  Church 

It  is  common  for  a  college  student  not 
to  identify  himself  with  the  church  in  his 
home  town  because  it  is  weak,  and  com- 
posed possibly  of  only  a  few  aged  people. 

o  [  209  ] 


Gbe  £00enttals  of  Gbristtantts 

He  plans  that  when  he  goes  to  college  he 
will  join  one  of  the  large  churches  where 
many  young  people  are  members. 

In  his  home  town  the  younger  boys  look 
up  to  him  as  a  sort  of  hero  because  he  goes 
away  to  school.  They  notice  that  he  "  has 
no  use  for  "  the  little  church  at  home,  and 
they  follow  the  lead  of  their  hero,  who,  sad 
to  say,  is  failing  in  the  very  place  where 
his  influence  is  greatest. 

The  one  who  thus  neglects  the  church 
is  lacking,  not  only  in  vision,  but  also  in 
courage.  He  lacks  vision  because  he  fails 
to  see  that  those,  whoever  they  may  be, 
who  support  the  churches  of  a  community, 
are  the  ones  who  care  for  the  moral  and 
spiritual  life  of  the  community,  who  are 
striving  to  make  conditions  safe  for  the 
young,  who  believe  that  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Christ  are  of  vital  significance  for 
the  world,  and  who  are  striving  to  give 
both  the  community  and  the  world  the  bene- 
fit of  them.  He  is  lacking  in  courage  be- 
cause he  is  unwilling  to  stand  with  the  few 
in  his  home  community  who  have  the  spir- 
itual and  moral  interests  of  the  community 
at  heart,  because  he  is  unwilling  to  put  his 
Christian    life    into    the    church    where    it 

[210] 


Gbe  Cburcb 

would  be  a  power  to  pull  others  toward 
Christ,  because  he  refuses  to  give  the  church 
the  benefit  of  his  talents,  his  youthful  vigor, 
his  education,  and  his  broadened  experience, 
and  because  he  is  satisfied  to  bury  his  life 
in  a  large  church  where  the  need  is  not  so 
great. 

I  am  not  here  writing  of  technical  church- 
membership — of  where  one's  church  letter 
is  held,  or  where  one's  name  is  recorded — 
but  of  the  open  and  glad  identification  of 
one's  life  with  the  life  of  the  church  that 
is  striving  to  do  God's  work  in  a  community 
according  to  its  best  wisdom  and  power. 
Above  all  things,  one  should  avoid  being 
a  snob  in  religion. 

Some  hesitate  to  identify  themselves  with 
the  church  because  they  cannot  consent  to 
all  its  doctrines.  Strange,  indeed,  must  be 
one's  doctrines  if,  with  so  many  denomina- 
tions, one  cannot  find  a  church  which  he  can 
conscientiously  join  and  support. 

It  is  the  author's  conviction  that  no  Chris- 
tian church  has  ever  appeared  in  history 
that  did  not  have  some  message  that  the 
world  needed.  We  are  accustomed  to  say 
that  we  have  too  many  churches,  and  it 
would  seem   so;  but  the  important  thing 

[211] 


Gbe  JEseentials  ot  Gbriattanits 

is,  not  the  reduction  of  the  number  of 
churches,  but  the  possession  of  full-orbed 
truth.  Most  of  our  churches  have  become 
so  tolerant  of  differing  ideas  within  the 
church  that  no  one  has  either  to  stay  out 
of  some  existing  church,  or  to  form  a  new 
one,  in  order  to  be  free  to  give  ample  ex- 
pression to  his  convictions.  I  doubt  if  a 
single  evangelical  church  could  be  found  to- 
day all  of  whose  members  see  eye  to  eye 
in  doctrine.  I  doubt,  indeed,  if  one  could 
bring  together  twenty-five  ministers  of  any 
evangelical  denomination,  all  of  whom  think 
alike  with  reference  either  to  doctrine  or 
practice.  There  is  plenty  of  room  in  our 
churches  for  differing  ideas.  Doctrines  di- 
vide; tasks  unite.  Today  our  churches  are 
emphasizing  tasks ;  they  are  confronted  with 
tremendous  ones;  and  they  need  the  active 
cooperation  of  every  person  who  owns 
Christ  as  Master. 


Tasks  of  the  Church 

One  of  the  chief  tasks  of  the  church  to- 
day is  that  of  readjustment  to  changing 
social  conditions.  The  modern  world  has 
seen  manufacturing  leave  the  home  for  the 

[212] 


tibe  Cburcb 

factory.  Great  cities  have  sprung  up  like 
magic.  Young  people,  leaving  the  farms 
and  small  towns,  seek  work  in  factories  and 
offices.  Rapid  transportation  and  com- 
munication have  massed  population  in  great 
centers  and  divided  them  into  classes.  The 
few  have  become  wealthy,  while  the  many 
only  earn  a  living.  Multitudes,  under  the 
stress  of  overspeed  during  six  days'  work, 
claim  the  Sabbath  for  recreation.  As  our 
people  have  grown  rich  and  wages  have  in- 
creased many  have  become  lovers  of  plea- 
sure and  fall  into  self-indulgence  instead 
of  bearing  the  yoke  of  responsibility. 

The  church,  consequently,  must  get  out 
of  the  ruts  of  centuries  and  adjust  itself  to 
the  changed  structure  of  society  or  lose  its 
power  over  men.  This  task  of  readjust- 
ment is  the  task  of  the  young.  It  places 
every  young  Christian  under  special  obliga- 
tions to  be  loyal  to  the  church  and  busy  in 
it ;  and  the  clearest  call  is  to  the  most  gifted 
and  the  best  trained.  No  others  can  ac- 
complish the  task.  Not  to  see  the  great 
need,  is  to  be  blind  to  present  conditions. 
To  stand  apart  from  the  church  and  criticize, 
is  to  be  untrue  to  Christ  as  his  cause  pre- 
sents itself  to  our  day. 

[213] 


Sbe  Essentials  of  Cbrtettanft^ 

While  it  is  well  and  necessary  to  recog- 
nize defects,  one  in  thinking  of  the  church 
should  place  the  emphasis  on  appreciation 
of  excellencies.  When  others  look  at  us, 
we  want  them  to  see,  not  only  the  scar  on 
our  face,  but  the  light  in  our  eyes.  We 
should  see  in  the  church  unity  of  spirit 
amidst  diversified  individual  interests;  the 
persistent  purpose  and  endeavor  to  win 
men  from  sin  and  to  make  society  better; 
the  amount  and  excellence  of  self-sacrific- 
ing service — in  teaching  children,  in  preach- 
ing the  gospel,  in  ministering  to  sick  and 
needy,  in  caring  for  orphans,  in  establish- 
ing hospitals,  in  maintaining  social  centers, 
in  mission  work  in  all  lands,  in  furnishing 
young  men  and  women  for  Christian  Asso- 
ciations the  world  around ;  in  its  great  work 
through  members  who  are  philanthropists, 
reformers,  temperance  workers,  and  uplift- 
ers  of  society  in  a  multitude  of  ways.  Such 
facts  should  press  home  upon  every  thought- 
ful person  the  question  of  whether  he  will 
continue  to  stand  aloof  from  the  church, 
criticizing  and  doing  nothing  to  help,  or 
"  get  into  the  game,"  take  his  rightful  re- 
sponsibility, and  do  with  his  strength  the 
utmost  of  his  share. 

[214] 


Gbe  Cbutcb 

Our  Obligations  to  the  Church 

Every  Christian  young  man  has  personal 
obligations  to  the  church  which  are  even 
more  imperative  than  those  already  named : 

1.  The  church  is  his  spiritual  mother. 
He  was  converted  by  the  work  of  the 
church — by  the  love,  prayers,  and  efforts  to 
win  him  to  Christ,  which  the  church  made 
possible.  His  home  was  environed  and  per- 
vaded by  church  influences.  His  closest 
friends  have  had  the  good  fortune  of  like 
church  influences,  and  these  friends  have 
been  powerful  in  his  life.  What  he  is  in 
moral  character  and  ethical  ideas,  he  owes 
to  the  church. 

2.  One's  spiritual  life  must  be  developed 
by  the  church.  No  phase  of  life  develops 
in  isolation.  Home  love  is  developed  by 
home  life,  class  spirit  by  class  activity, 
companionableness  by  companionships,  lit- 
erary taste  by  literary  friends,  books,  and 
societies.  So  also  the  church,  with  its  mul- 
titude of  activities,  must  be  one's  means 
of  spiritual  culture. 

3.  Every  one  is  needed  in  the  work  of 
the  church.  In  all  big  undertakings  men 
work,  not  alone,  but  in  cooperation.     The 

[215] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  CbristfanttE 

Sunday  School  is  carried  on,  not  by  one, 
but  by  a  group.  The  church  is  supported, 
both  financially  and  in  all  its  assemblies, 
not  by  one,  but  by  many.  The  influence  of 
a  church  in  a  community  goes  forth  from  a 
group  of  persons  who  are  united  in  sym- 
pathy, purpose,  and  endeavor.  Social  ser- 
vice is  a  task  too  large  for  one ;  it  requires 
united  effort.  Missions,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  is  work  needing  an  organization. 
In  a  sympathetic  organization  which  under- 
takes great  tasks  there  is  not  only  room  for, 
but  great  need  of,  ability  of  every  kind, 
and  in  such  an  organization  talents  of  every 
sort  most  readily  find  place  and  employ- 
ment. 

Team-work  is  needed  in  the  church  just 
as  in  the  football  game.  The  game  is  not 
won  by  standing  on  the  side-lines  and  tell- 
ing how  it  ought  to  be  done,  but  by  getting 
into  the  game,  adjusting  one's  movements 
to  other  players,  and  all  pushing  together 
to  put  the  ball  across  the  goal.  Even  those 
on  the  side-lines  must  cheer  if  their  team  is 
to  win.  Christ's  work  is  a  team-work 
proposition.  The  first  thing  the  Master  did 
was  to  gather  about  him  twelve  disciples. 
Let  no  one  think  to  live  his  Christian  life 

[216] 


Hbe  Cburcb 

and  do  his  Christian  work  apart  from  or- 
ganization. 

4.  It  may  be  safely  said  that  no  one  to- 
day can  make  his  greatest  spiritual  con- 
tribution to  the  world  except  through  the 
church,  or  in  closest  sympathy  and  coopera- 
tion with  it.  One  cannot  do  his  best  work 
except  in  sympathetic  surroundings.  Most 
of  us  have  had  experience  of  unsympathetic 
teachers  who  would  not  be  pleased  no  mat- 
ter what  we  did.  Good  work  under  such 
teachers  is  impossible.  In  an  unsympathetic 
company  thoughts  will  not  flow,  humor  is 
dried  up,  fellowship  is  stagnant.  An  un- 
sympathetic audience  destroys  a  speaker's 
eloquence  and  stifles  his  resources.  So  also, 
only  among  those  sympathetic  with  spirit- 
ual ideals  and  cooperating  in  spiritual  proj- 
ects is  any  Christian  put  at  his  best;  only 
thus  is  the  most  developed  within  him  and 
the  most  got  out  of  him  for  the  help  of  his 
fellows.  Even  Christ  wrought  few  miracles, 
and  taught  only  in  dark  sayings,  where 
sympathy  was  lacking.  On  several  occa- 
sions it  is  said  of  him,  in  explanation  of 
the  people's  failure  to  receive  his  best: 
"  And  he  did  not  many  mighty  works  there, 
because  of  their  unbelief"  (Matt.  13  :  58). 

[217] 


Cbe  JBasenttate  of  CbttetlanltB 

77*e  Record  of  the  Church 

No  other  institution  in  history  has  such 
a  glorious  record  as  the  church.  The  hero- 
ism of  Christ,  a  young  man,  sending  forth 
a  dozen  young  men  to  establish  the  rule  of 
God  in  the  hearts  of  men,  is  an  act  of  faith 
and  heroism  to  captivate  the  imagination 
and  command  the  admiration  of  every 
young  man  of  spirit. 

In  three  hundred  years  the  whole  Medi- 
terranean world  was  made  nominally  Chris- 
tian. No  difficulties,  no  oppositions,  no  per- 
secutions daunted  the  lovers  of  Christ. 
They  were  burned  at  the  stake,  thrown  to 
lions,  gored  by  angered  bulls,  cast  into 
loathsome  dungeons,  thrust  through  with 
the  sword;  but  they  forgave  their  perse- 
cutors and  counted  it  an  honor  to  die  for 
the  Saviour  whom  they  loved;  while  on 
every  hand  those  who  witnessed  their  un- 
hesitating response  to  the  challenge  of  love, 
relinquished  their  idols  and  accepted  Christ. 

We  look  back  in  amazement  at  the  heroic 
folly,  as  we  think,  of  the  hermits  and 
Crusaders.  Their  folly,  of  course,  was  in- 
cident to  the  ideas  of  their  day,  but  their 
heroism  in  answering  the  call  of  God  as 

[218] 


XLbc  Cbutcb 

they  saw  it  will  ever  command  the  admira- 
tion of  the  world. 

We  no  longer  believe  that  society  is  in- 
herently evil,  and  that  it  is  necessary  to  go 
apart  from  it  in  order  to  be  saved,  as  did 
the  hermits ;  but  the  self-sacrificing  heroism 
that  denied  self-indulgence,  crucified  natu- 
ral desires,  gave  up  friends  and  loved  ones, 
and  relinquished  all  worldly  ambitions, 
stands  out  in  glowing  contrast  with  the 
easy-going  indulgence  of  many  in  our  time. 
A  like  heroism  and  sacrifice  put  into  the 
tasks  which  constitute  the  challenge  of  our 
day  to  Christian  men,  instantly  commands 
the  admiration  of  every  thoughtful  person. 

We  no  longer  believe  that  it  is  important 
to  rescue  the  "  holy  sepulcher  "  from  "  the 
infidel,"  as  did  the  Crusaders;  but  when 
business  and  property  are  relinquished,  as 
they  were  then,  in  order  that  one's  self 
and  one's  money  may  be  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  as  his  cause  presents  itself 
in  our  day,  the  admiration  of  every  one  who 
seeks  to  uplift  society  is  forthcoming. 

Beyond  all  other  institutions,  the  church 
has  been  the  dispenser  of  charity.  Its 
methods,  of  course,  have  not  always  been 
wise,  but  this  fact  is  of  wholly  secondary 

[219] 


ttbe  Essentials  of  Gbtistianttg 

consequence.  The  heart  to  give,  the  dis- 
position to  uplift,  the  recognition  of  obliga- 
tion, and  the  endeavor  to  promote  brother- 
hood are  the  great  things.  Wise  methods 
of  administration  are  battered  out  of  ex- 
perience. Our  day  is  one  of  organized 
charity.  In  this  work  the  church  takes  a 
leading  part,  both  by  giving  money  and  by 
friendly  visitation.  All  charity  workers 
recognize  that  the  poor  need  friends  quite 
as  much  as  they  need  material  aid. 
Throughout  the  centuries  the  charity  of  the 
church  has  been  a  luminous  manifestation 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

The  church  has  always  championed  the 
rights  of  the  common  man.  In  days  when 
it  was  denied  that  women  and  slaves  had 
souls,  the  church  championed  the  dignity 
and  worth  of  every  individual.  When 
slavery  was  common  among  all  nations,  the 
church  insisted  upon  humane  treatment,  and 
commended  those  who  liberated  their  slaves. 
Under  the 'wage  system  the  church  has  al- 
ways championed  a  "  square  deal."  In 
every  century  it  has  stood,  according  to 
the  best  light  of  the  day,  for  truth,  right- 
eousness, and  justice.  It  has  refused  to  be 
discouraged,  however  great  the  discourage- 

[  220  ] 


Cbe  Cburcb 

ments.  In  a  little  chapel  in  Wales,  one  Sab- 
bath morning,  the  writer  listened  to  an 
aged  minister  preaching  to  a  congregation 
of  forty  people  on  "  The  Conquering  King- 
dom of  Christ."  The  small  congregation 
did  not  seem  to  represent  large  conquest, 
but  the  situation  was  typical  of  the  unsub- 
duable  spirit  of  the  church  through  all  the 
centuries.  Between  the  dozen*  men  which 
Christ  sent  forth  and  the  millions  in  the 
church  today  there  have  been  many  ups 
and  downs — dark  days  and  bright  days; 
days  when  the  church  fell  into  ruts  which 
made  reformation  necessary;  days  when  in 
places  it  was  swept  into  the  clutch  of  eco- 
nomic interest,  as  in  our  own  Southland 
during  slavery;  days  when  the  power  and 
furor  of  the  State  turned  it  from  its  proper 
mission,  as  in  Germany;  but  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  ever  latent  in  the  hearts  of  at  least 
a  few,  prevailed  in  the  end,  and  the  Church 
continues  to  be  the  source  and  fountain 
of  the  world's  spiritual  life  and  power. 

The  Church  at  Present 

At  the  present  hour  the  church  is  hold- 
ing up  Jesus  Christ  to  the  world  as  the 

[221] 


Gbe  B06cntial0  ot  GbrtstianttB 

Saviour  of  men  and  the  Redeemer  of  so- 
ciety; and  it  is  the  only  institution  that  is 
doing  so.  It  insists  that  men  should  be- 
come like  Christ  in  character,  and  that  the 
principles  of  Christ  should  dominate  human 
relationships.  It  teaches  and  preaches 
righteousness.  It  stands  squarely  against 
all  immorality,  both  in  private  and  public 
life.  It  is  the  only  institution  which  makes 
the  salvation  of  men  and  the  promotion  of 
righteousness  its  sole  business.  However 
much  individual  members  may  fall  short  of 
its  ideals  and  teachings,  the  church  in  its 
organized  capacity,  and  in  the  united  ef- 
forts of  its  members,  exalts  Jesus  Christ 
and  works  to  promote  godliness. 

The  church  is  the  only  organization  that 
is  working  to  give  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
to  all  peoples  of  the  earth.  Her  missionaries 
are  in  every  land.  She  has  many  arms  and 
many  busy  hands — aid  societies,  charity  or- 
ganizations, Sunday  Schools,  social  centers, 
missionary  societies,  Young  Men's  and 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  be- 
sides many  others;  while  the  great  majority 
of  all  leaders  in  every  field  of  reform  are 
at  the  same  time  active  members  of  the 
church  of  Christ. 

[  222  ] 


£be  Cbutcb 

The  Church  and  the  World  War, 

Much  has  been  said  about  changes  that 
would  come  to  the  church  after  the  world 
war,  and  some  have  intimated  that  the 
church  failed  during  the  world's  great  crisis. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
with  other  like  organizations,  and  all  army 
chaplains  were  the  church  of  Christ  at  work 
to  supply  war  needs.  Churches  also  freely 
gave  their  pastors  in  order  that  they  might 
serve  where  the  need  was  greatest.  Every 
church  was  a  hive  of  industry,  in  its  church 
building  or  elsewhere,  helping  to  furnish 
what  our  soldier  boys  needed.  No  armies 
in  the  world  were  ever  so  well  cared  for 
morally  and  spiritually  as  the  armies  of 
the  allied  nations.  Never  in  the  history  of 
war  has  such  magnificent  service  been  ren- 
dered, notwithstanding  the  suddenness  of  its 
demand  and  its  staggering  magnitude. 

Now  that  the  war  is  over,  what  readjust- 
ments in  church  life  are  our  soldiers  de- 
manding? With  gratitude  we  observe  that 
they  are  returning  to  our  churches  thankful 
for  the  love  and  prayers  that  followed  them 
into  the  jaws  of  death.  Their  letters  to 
pastors  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  workers  express 

[223] 


Gbe  Essentials  ot  Cbristiantts 

deep  appreciation  of  spiritual  help  and  com- 
fort. Thousands  who  began  the  Christian 
life  in  response  to  the  gospel  message  in 
cantonments  and  on  the  war  front,  indicate 
Christ's  power  now  as  always  to  win  and 
inspire  strong  men. 

There  is  as  yet  no  insistent  demand  for 
change  in  the  church  by  our  returning  sol- 
diers. Moreover,  an  institution  that  has 
been  hundreds  of  years  in  building  does  not 
change  either  suddenly  or  rapidly.  Its  roots 
are  too  deep  in  the  hearts  of  men;  its 
threads  of  life  are  too  intimately  woven 
throughout  the  whole  social  fabric;  it  has 
accumulated  too  much  wisdom  from  experi- 
ence. 

Yet  changes  will  take  place  in  the  church, 
and  they  ought  to  come.  The  experiences 
of  our  Christian  soldiers  will  accelerate 
changes  that  were  already  begun  before 
they  went  to  war. 

Some  old  methods  of  religious  expression 
and  church  activity  will  wear  themselves  out 
and  disappear.  The  Methodist  class-meet- 
ing is  already  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
midweek  prayer-meeting  in  many  places 
does  not  serve  the  purpose  it  once  did  and 
is  no  longer  supported  as  formerly.     The 

[224] 


Gbe  Cburcb 

preaching  of  Christ  still  attracts,  holds,  and 
interests  more  hearers,  and  does  it  oftener, 
than  any  other  serious  subject  which  brings 
men  together  in  assembly.  But  there  is  fall- 
ing off  in  attendance  at  church,  and  the  eve- 
ning service  suffers  most.  In  numerous 
places  it  has  been  discontinued.  Evangel- 
istic services  are  not  generally  in  favor  as 
formerly.  That  is,  the  methods  of  church 
activity  which  originated  in  other  days  must 
evidently  undergo  readjustment  to  meet  the 
changed  conditions  of  our  day.  This  we 
all  feel.  Our  boys  felt  it  before  they  went 
to  war. 

New  methods  of  church  life  and  work 
will  doubtless  develop  in  line  with  present 
social  emphasis,  an  emphasis  which  war 
conditions  greatly  accentuated.  The  key- 
note of  the  whole  war  situation  was  ser- 
vice. The  demand  upon  Christianity  was 
that  it  help  some  one,  that  it  sacrifice,  that 
it  lay  down  life  where  needed.  This  is  the 
social  emphasis  raised  to  the  nth  power. 
In  the  intensity  of  the  situation  it  seemed 
to  be  the  whole  of  religion.  Men  felt  that 
all  else  of  religious  character  must  help  men 
to  gird  themselves  for  sacrifice. 

This  emphasis  on  self-sacrificing  social 

p  [  225  ] 


Zbc  J60dcntial0  of  CbnsttanttB 

service  our  boys  have  brought  back  from 
the  war.  It  is  the  emphasis  of  our  cen- 
tury intensified  by  war  conditions,  and  mag- 
nified and  glorified  because  enshrined  in 
the  hearts  of  the  most  virile  and  forward- 
looking  young  men  of  the  nation. 

Such  men  do  not  hastily  turn  from  the 
church  or  lightly  discard  old  forms  with 
which  they  are  familiar.  But  they  will 
not  remain  satisfied  with  old  forms  and 
methods.  New  life  takes  on  new  forms  and 
expresses  itself  in  new  ways. 

One  may  not  say  beforehand  what  the 
changes  will  be.  Naturally  the  first  at- 
tempts at  improvement  will  follow  the  lines 
of  Christian  Association  work,  which  was 
so  helpful  to  the  soldiers  in  the  time  of  their 
need.  But  the  new  emphasis  will  deter- 
mine its  own  forms  and  methods  as  it  pro- 
ceeds, battering  them  out  of  experiences  of 
success  and  failure  in  the  endeavor  to  bring 
Jesus  Christ  into  vital  relations  with  men. 

Whatever  changes  may  come  to  the 
church,  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
supreme  need  of  the  world  is  vital  union 
with  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  condition  of 
advancing  civilization.  No  changes  in  the 
church  will  avail  for  the  betterment  of  men 

[226] 


Gbc  Cburcb 

which  do  not  accentuate  this  fact,  and  no 
methods  of  Christian  work  and  service  will 
be  an  improvement  on  present  ones  unless 
they  are  more  effective  in  bringing  men 
face  to  face  with  Christ  as  Lord  and 
Master. 

Wherein  is  our  civilization  ahead  of  that 
of  Egypt,  Babylon,  Assyria,  ancient  Greece, 
or  Rome  ?  Where  can  you  go  in  history  to 
find  grosser  savagery  than  was  exhibited 
in  the  world  war,  and  in  rebellions  in  Rus- 
sia and  Germany  since  the  war — the  murder 
of  non-combatants,  the  slaughter  of  chil- 
dren, the  violation  of  women,  the  abuse, 
torture,  and  starvation  of  prisoners,  the 
ruthless  pillage,  the  wanton  destruction  of 
property,  the  bitterness  and  hate? 

We  have  boasted  of  progress  in  science 
and  invention,  and  called  it  advancing  civil- 
ization. The  war  has  made  apparent  the 
fact  that  the  only  real  advancement  is  prog- 
ress in  manhood,  that  real  civilization  con- 
sists in  building  a  finer  type  of  the  human 
species.  All  else  may  be  but  the  perfecting 
of  instruments  of  misery,  destruction,  and 
death. 

Science,  we  say,  has  decreased  the  burden 
of  work  in  the  world.     But  leisure  is  not 

[227] 


Cbe  Besentiate  ot  Gbrigtianlts 

an  unmixed  blessing  unless  those  enjoy- 
ing it  be  of  such  character  as  to  use  it 
profitably;  and  work  is  a  necessary  condi- 
tion of  physical  and  moral  development. 
As  great  evils  may  come  from  too  much 
leisure  as  from  too  crushing  toil. 

Science  and  invention  have  given  the 
world  increased  comforts  and  luxuries.  But 
comforts  and  luxuries  are  often  the  cause 
of  moral  deterioration.  Children  reared  in 
luxury  are  not  better  than  children  inured 
to  toil.  Those  who  grow  rapidly  rich  are 
not  made  better  thereby. 

Science  has  overcome  many  diseases.  But 
modern  industrial  conditions  and  the  inten- 
sity of  modern  life  are  responsible  for  many 
diseases.  Heart-failure  and  nerve-fag  are 
increasing.  Trade  diseases,  caused  by  dust 
and  poisons,  are  numerous,  and  industrial 
accidents  cause  no  end  of  poverty,  suffer- 
ing, and  sorrow. 

Real  progress  consists  in  advancing  man- 
hood, and  scientific  knowledge  and  methods 
are  of  advantage  in  proportion  as  we  pro- 
duce men  who  make  them  a  blessing.  In 
a  word,  they  are  of  advantage  in  propor- 
tion as  men  have  the  Christian  view-point, 
spirit,  and  purpose. 

[228] 


3be  Cburcb 

Never  has  it  been  so  evident  that  the 
world  needs  Jesus  Christ  and  that  its  prog- 
ress is  hopeless  without  him.  The  only  per- 
manent advancement  that  civilization  is 
making  is  progress  in  Christlikeness. 

Whatever  changes  may  come  to  the 
church,  they  will  fail  of  advantage  unless 
they  reveal  Christ  to  the  apprehension  of 
the  people  and  persuade  them  to  accept  him 
as  Saviour  and  Lord. 

It  is  well  to  promote  athletics,  to  furnish 
amusements,  to  provide  facilities  for  social 
life,  to  conduct  night-schools,  to  open  labor 
bureaus,  and  to  promote  many  other  social 
and  economic  ministries;  but  unless  they 
are  the  media  through  which  men  catch 
Christ's  spirit  and  discern  his  love,  so  that 
they  are  brought  into  vital  relations  with 
him,  all  our  modern  methods  will  be  but 
futile  playing  at  the  world's  great  task. 
The  world  needs  Christ. 


[229] 


Cooperattno  wttb  <Sot> 


COOPERATING  WITH  GOD 


MODERN  democracies  must  be  made 
up  of  spiritual  men  who  are  keyed 
to  lofty  purposes.  Present  conditions  and 
future  outlook  challenge  every  serious- 
minded  person  to  rise  to  the  divinest  that 
is  in  him.  The  times  call  for  men  with  high 
ideals,  with  faith  in  God,  and  who  are  will- 
ing to  work  with  God  to  make  a  better 
world. 

Constructive  thought  is  demanded,  and 
immediacy  and  vigor  of  action  are  impera- 
tive. It  is  not  enough  to  criticize  past  and 
present  institutions,  even  though  criticism 
be  just  and  needed.  We  must  build  better 
institutions,  ever  looking  toward  an  ampler 
future  in  which  there  shall  be  less  need  to 
criticize.  Criticism  of  one's  self,  of  course, 
is  a  sign  of  growth.  One  lives  to  little 
purpose  who  is  not  wiser  today  than  he 
was  yesterday.  Criticism  of  others  also  is 
beneficial  when  given  with  a  desire  to  help, 
and  especially  when  we  have  had  experi- 


[233] 


Cbe  Essentials  ot  CbrtsttanttE 

ence  of  the  things  criticized;  but  criticism 
at  best  is  a  thankless  task,  and  one  of  doubt- 
ful utility  unless  one  also  shows  "  a  more 
excellent  way." 

It  is  good  to  criticize  the  church,  for  the 
church,  like  all  institutions  run  by  human 
beings,  can  be  improved.  But  the  reasons 
for  criticism  ought  to  be  to  destroy  the 
church  if  it  makes  men  worse,  or  to  im- 
prove the  church  and  make  it  a  more  power- 
ful instrument  for  making  men  better. 

It  is  proper  to  criticize  the  Bible,  but 
surely  the  criticism  ought  to  be  in  the  spirit 
of  helpfulness.  One  could  admire  intel- 
ligent criticism  of  the  Bible  from  one  who 
sincerely  thought  that  the  Bible  did  harm, 
or  from  one  who  believed  that  he  could  im- 
prove the  Bible  as  a  religious  guide,  or  from 
one  who  had  found  another  book  which 
would  do  the  work  better.  But  criticism 
without  clear  ideas,  definite  purpose,  or 
generous  motive,  bespeaks  thoughtlessness, 
and  indifference  to  the  spiritual  needs  of 
man. 

It  is  always  necessary  and  proper  to  tear 
down  an  old  building  if  it  is  really  danger- 
ous, or  if  it  serve  no  good  purpose,  or  when 
a  new  and  better  structure  is  to  be  erected 

[234] 


Coopcratina  vvitb  <Bo& 

in  its  place.  But  unless  the  new  building 
is  to  be  constructed,  it  is  certainly  best  to 
let  the  old  stand.  It  will  shelter  some  from 
the  cold  and  the  dark  even  though  it  be  old. 

ii 

Suppose  that  one  cannot  connect  him- 
self with  any  existing  religious  institution, 
or  get  at  his  religious  life  problem  in  any  of 
the  ways  suggested  in  the  foregoing  chap- 
ters: 

i.  One  is  dissatisfied  with  the  church. 
Let  him  forget  the  church.  Call  it  a  man- 
made  institution.  It  has  always  changed; 
it  is  changing  rapidly  at  present;  it  will 
change  more  in  the  years  ahead.  Each  of 
us  would  have  his  life  to  live,  his  possibil- 
ities to  realize,  and  a  worth-while  work  to 
do  in  the  world  if  the  church  had  never 
existed. 

2.  One  has  trouble  with  the  Bible.  Very 
well.  Forget  the  Bible  if  no  help  is  found 
in  it.  Call  it  the  record  of  God's  deal- 
ings with  men  in  other  days,  or  what  men 
thought  was  God's  dealings  with  them. 
One  has  his  life  to  live,  his  bit  to  do  for 
the  social  good,  and  this  would  be  the.  case 
had  the  Bible  never  been  written. 

[  235'] 


Zbe  Essentials  of  Cbristtanitg 

3.  One  fails  to  understand  Jesus  Christ. 
Very  well.  Forget  Christ  if  he  furnishes 
no  strength  to  moral  purposes  and  no  in- 
spiration for  high  endeavor.  One  still  has 
his  life  to  live,  his  burdens  to  bear,  his  sins 
to  be  forgiven,  his  temptations  to  overcome, 
his  powers  to  use,  his  fellow  men  to  help. 

4.  One  finds  fault  with  people.  They  are 
human  like  one's  self,  and  they  are  doubt- 
less more  conscious  of  their  faults  and  sins 
than  anybody  else. 

What  then?  Is  life  to  be  spent  in  quar- 
reling with. things  and  people?  in  criticizing 
historic  beliefs  and  customs?  and  in  con- 
demning present  institutions?  Is  one  not 
to  put  in  his  oar  and  have  part  in  the  row- 
ing when  the  whole  complicated  process  of 
making  one's  own  and  everybody's  life 
more  worth  living  is  an  up-stream  task,  re- 
quiring every  willing  hand  at  the  oars? 

in 

It  is  possible,  in  the  face  of  all  difficulties, 
to  secure  an  effective  starting-point  for 
one's  religious  life  by  beginning  where  one 
is  and  cooperating  with  God  according  to 
one's  light  and  opportunity.  You  believe 
in  God,  though  he  may  be  vague  to  you. 

[236] 


Cooperating  wltb  <3oo 

You  have  a  spiritual  nature  which  feels  a 
kinship  to  God  and  longs  to  know  him  bet- 
ter. Then  cooperate  with.  God  according"  to 
your  best  judgment,  and  grant  the  willing 
response  of  your  spiritual  nature  as  far  as 
it  is  developed.  This  is  reducing  religion 
to  its  lowest  terms ;  but  surely  the  simplest 
and  most  apparent  fact  to  any  man  in 
earnest  is  that  he  ought  to  cooperate  zvith 
God.  He  ought  not  to  work  against  him 
or  be  indifferent  to  his  desires.  To  coop- 
erate with  God  according  to  one's  light  is 
the  least  that  a  true-hearted  man  can  do, 
and  it  is  in  fact  the  most  that  any  man 
can  do. 

To  what  tasks  this  cooperation  will  lead 
one,  depends  on  many  things — on  the  in- 
tensity of  one's  spiritual  nature;  on  home, 
school,  and  social  training;  on  moral  stand- 
ards ;  on  social  and  economic  ideas ;  and  on 
the  needs  and  opportunities  of  one's  present 
sphere  of  influence.  But  to  cooperate  with 
God  according  to  one's  honest  convictions 
is  the  most  apparent  duty  of  every  man. 
Less  than  this  will  not  satisfy  either  one's 
intelligence  or  one's  feelings,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  one's  convictions  of  the  highest  life 
and  the  most  helpful  service.     Cooperating 

[237] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  CbnettanttE 

wftA  God  according  to  present  light  will 
bring  more  light;  it  will  lead  to  conscious 
fellowship  with  God  in  work;  it  will  start 
one's  spiritual  nature  into  healthy  and  vigor- 
ous growth;  and  it  will  keep  one  busy  with 
the  things  that  are  most  worth  while. 

IV 

The  question  now  arises,  What  does  God 
want?  In  what  tasks  may  one  cooperate 
with  him? 

i.  Surely  God  wants  men  to  be  pure  in 
life.  Here  is  an  immediate  task  for  every 
man,  a  task  sufficiently  definite,  and  one 
that  is  ever  present.  Its  importance  can- 
not be  overemphasized.  It  affects  individual 
life,  family  life,  social  life,  and  industrial 
life;  it  concerns  the  number  of  children 
born  diseased,  malformed,  deaf,  dumb, 
blind,  feeble-minded,  or  with  tendencies  to 
epilepsy,  insanity,  or  criminality;  it  affects 
the  happiness  or  unhappiness  of  homes;  it 
brings  the  bloom  or  blight  to  innumerable 
lives.  Here  is  a  task  calling  for  the  imme- 
diate activity  and  hardest  fighting  of  every 
manly  man. 

One's  application  to  this  great  task  takes 
very  definite  form.     It  begins  with  one's 

[238] 


Cooperating  witb  <Boo 

self — the  cleanness  of  one's  own  life,  the 
purity  of  one's  own  heart,  the  chasteness  of 
one's  own  thoughts.  It  has  to  do  with  the 
character  of  the  pictures  on  one's  walls, 
the  nature  of  the  stories  one  tells  or  hears. 
It  challenges  one's  respect  for  manhood  and 
womanhood,  for  motherhood  and  babyhood, 
for  sisterhood  and  brotherhood,  for  life  at 
its  very  source  and  in  its  holiest  functions. 
Response  to  this  sacred  challenge  consti- 
tutes the  supreme  test  of  many  a  man's 
honor  and  heroism. 

But  the  task  of  pure  living  is  not  simply 
one's  own.  Each  of  us  helps  or  hinders 
others  in  their  fight.  During  the  war  we 
prayed  that  our  soldier  boys  might  be  kept 
pure  amidst  the  temptations  of  camp  life. 
The  author  had  a  number  of  personal 
friends  in  our  training-camps.  He  prayed, 
not  only  that  they  might  be  kept  pure,  but 
that,  reenforced  as  they  were  by  good 
homes,  good  training,  good  associates,  the 
confidence  of  friends,  and  the  assistance  of 
God,  they  might  be  towers  of  strength  to 
others,  and  help  to  keep  pure  those  less 
gifted  and  less  fortunate  than  themselves. 

We  help  ourselves  most  by  helping 
others — provided   always   that   we   do   not 

[239] 


tlbe  Essentials  of  Christianity 

help  others  for  the  purpose  of  helping  our- 
selves. Jesus  says :  "  He  that  loseth  his  life 
shall  save  it."  He  gets  warm  quickest  who 
nelps  to  warm  another;  he  fights  best  for 
himself  who  fights  another's  battles;  he 
grows  strong  who  helps  the  weak;  he 
strengthens  his  own  footing  who  holds  an- 
other up. 

2.  Surely  God  wants  men  to  be  honest — 
honest  with  themselves,  with  their  fellows, 
and  with  him.  A  group  of  men  who  were 
producing  a  morality  code  for  grade  and 
high-school  pupils,  sent  a  questionnaire  to 
a  large  number  of  teachers,  asking  what 
ought  to  be  put  into  it.  "  Put  honesty  into 
the  code,"  the  great  majority  of  them  re- 
plied. Children  are  not  far  advanced  in 
education  before  they  are  willing  to  take 
something  for  nothing.  It  is  not  a  far  cry 
from  zvillingness  to  take  something  for 
nothing  to  striving  to  get  something  for 
nothing.  The  "  gold-brick  "  element  comes 
to  pervade  the  whole  of  life.  People  want 
good  health  without  paying  the  price ;  they 
want  cultured  minds  without  being  at  cost ; 
they  want  spiritual  life  and  eternal  life  with- 
out sacrifice  and  effort.  The  great  need  in 
work,  trade,  commerce,  social  relations,  and 

[240] 


Cooperating  vvitb  $ofc 

spiritual  life,  is  simply  honesty — a  sense  of 
honor  that  is  unwilling  to  take  something 
for  nothing.  There  is  a  deep  sense  in  which 
a  man  cannot  possess  what  he  has  not 
earned  and  paid  for  in  terms  of  expendi- 
ture of  life.  Social  health,  economic  sound- 
ness, and  right  individual  character,  cannot 
rest  on  deceit,  fraud,  or  injustice.  God 
wants  honest  men. 

But  the  task  of  securing  honesty,  both  in 
ourselves  and  others,  is  so  difficult,  and 
must  be  so  long  continued,  that  no  man  is 
adequate,  even  to  do  his  bit,  without  faith 
that  God  works  with  him.  Conscious  co- 
operation with  God  is  imperative  if  one 
would  work  undismayed  on  a  task  so  large. 

The  first  duty  of  a  man  who  would  help 
to  make  a  more  honest  world  is  squarely  to 
face  his  own  soul  and  demand  of  himself 
absolute  honesty  with  his  God.  This  is  the 
only  possible  basis  of  cooperation  with  God 
in  any  task. 

3.  Surely  God  wants  brotherly  men.  Our 
world  war  was  between  autocracy  and  de- 
mocracy, between  those  who  would  rule  and 
those  who  would  share,  between  nations 
schooled  in  hate  and  those  schooled  in 
brotherhood,  between  those  who  repudiated 

Q  [  241  ] 


Gbe  Essentials  of  Cbttsttanitg 

national  morality  and  those  who  advocated 
it,  between  those  who  disavowed  Christian 
principles  and  those  who  stood  by  them, 
between  those  who  would  rule  by  brute 
force  and  those  who  championed  the  rights 
of  the  weak. 

The  dividing-line  seen  in  the  war  runs 
through  all  government,  business,  social, 
and  individual  life.  Shall  the  powerful  in 
government  rule  the  people  for  their  own 
profit  or  for  the  advantage  of  those  ruled, 
as  an  older  and  abler  brother  might  rule 
a  younger  brother?  Shall  the  strong  in 
business  crush  the  weak  or  organize  busi- 
ness for  the  benefit  and  comfort  of  all? 
Shall  the  more  fortunate  and  gifted  in  so- 
ciety look  down  upon  the  less  fortunate  and 
less  gifted,  or  value  the  weak  as  Christ 
valued  them,  holding  all  in  a  spirit  of  human 
fellowship,  and  furnishing  to  all  the  uplift 
and  inspiration  of  brotherly  love?  Shall 
the  individual  go  forth  into  life  to  get  or  to 
give  ?  Shall  he  make  his  work  first  and  his 
pay  incidental  or  his  pay  first  and  his  work 
incidental?  Shall  what  he  is  to  his  friends 
be  first  and  what  he  gets  from  them  second, 
or  shall  he  place  first  what  he  gets  and 
make  what  he  gives  contingent  on  that? 

[242] 


Coopetattng  witb  <5o& 

In  a  word,  shall  one's  ambition  and  en- 
deavor be  to  bless  or  to  be  blessed?  Shall 
one  not  give  of  himself,  of  the  very  best 
that  is  in  him,  remembering  that  "  there  is 
that  giveth  and  yet  increaseth,  and  there  is 
that  witholdeth,  but  it  tendeth  only  to  pov- 
erty."   Life  grows  rich  by  spending. 

To  make  the  world  "  safe  for  democ- 
racy," and  to  make  spiritualized  democracy 
safe  for  the  world,  simply  means  to  build 
men  into  brotherhood.  It  is  a  tremendous 
task ;  but  surely  it  is  God's  will ;  and  every 
earnest,  forward-looking  man  ought  to  be 
busy  with  God  working  on  the  job. 

4.  Surely  God  wants  redeeming  men. 
This  means  brotherhood  raised  to  the  high- 
est power.  It  means  the  strong  bearing  the 
burdens  of  the  weak.  As  long  as  strength 
simply  serves  itself  the  weak  will  be 
crushed.  As  long  as  quick  wits  are  selfish, 
slow  wits  will  be  outclassed  and  exploited. 
What  is  strength  for?  How  is  it  to  be 
used?  Until  strength  is  used  to  serve — 
to  uplift  the  fallen,  to  sustain  the  weak,  to 
rescue  those  in  danger,  to  instruct  the  igno- 
rant, to  guard  the  foolish  from  folly,  and 
to  save  the  sinning,  we  shall  have  a  selfish, 
cruel,  exploiting  world;  we  shall  never  be 

[243] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  Christianity 

out  of  hearing  of  the  suffering  and  hungry ; 
we  shall  look  upon  the  poorly  clad,  ill- 
housed,  and  diseased;  we  shall  be  in  com- 
pany with  the  sinning,  hopeless,  and  despair- 
ing. God  wants  redeeming  men,  men  who 
see  needs  and  have  hearts  to  help,  men  who 
are  aware  of  suffering,  folly,  and  sin  in 
others,  and  who  care.  Is  this  not  the  mean- 
ing of  the  fact  that  "  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  "  ? 
Is  this  not  the  spirit  of  Christ  as  he  lived 
among  men?  Is  this  not  the  inner  soul  of 
religion  and  the  highest  and  holiest  task  of 
every  man  ?  To  serve  one's  fellows  accord- 
ing to  one's  light  and  opportunity,  to  be  at 
cost  for  others,  to  suffer  and  rejoice  with 
them  and  for  them,  to  bring  to  others  the 
spiritual  health  of  a  life  that  believes  and 
loves  and  cares  and  hopes  and  trusts,  in 
order  that  they  also  may  take  courage  and 
be  braver  and  stronger — this  is  the  one  task 
supremely  worthy  of  the  enlistment  of  all 
the  powers  of  a  man;  but  it  is  a  task  so 
high,  so  difficult,  and  yet  so  needed,  that  he 
who  undertakes  it  must  be  linked  with  God, 
and  consciously  cooperate  with  him.  God 
always  calls  men  to  heroic  tasks,  but  he 
always  works  with  them. 

[244] 


Cooperating  witb  <3o& 


One's  own  heart  is  the  measure  of  one's 
opportunity.  The  opportunity  is  as  large 
or  as  small  as  the  heart.  A  group  of  young 
people  were  gathered  about  a  painting  in- 
tended to  represent  a  girl  coming  home 
from  church.  A  church  building  was  in  the 
background  of  the  picture,  and  in  the  fore- 
ground, the  girl  with  her  Bible  walking 
toward  the  beholders.  The  young  people 
were  remarking  that  she  had  been  to  church, 
when  a  minister  of  the  writer's  acquain- 
tance, a  man  of  keen  artistic  sense  and  of 
searching  spiritual  discernment,  who  was 
looking  over  the  heads  of  the  group,  said: 
"  She  has  not  been  to  church ;  she  has  been 
somewhere  else." 

A  well-known  artist  who  related  the  in- 
cident to  the  author,  said :  "  I  made  careful 
inquiry  into  the  character  of  the  artist  who 
painted  '  The  Girl  Coming  Home  from 
Church,'  and  learned  to  my  surprise  that  he 
was  an  unmitigated  villain.  He  could  not 
paint  a  girl  coming  home  from  church. 
There  was  no  church  in  his  heart."  Then 
continuing,  the  artist  said,  "  I  made  up  my 
mind  when  I  began  to  paint  that  if  I  were 


[245] 


Cbe  lEssenttale  of  Cbrtettantts 

ever  to  become  a  painter,  I  must  begin  in 
the  middle  of  my  own  heart." 

"  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is 
he."  "  Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of 
life."  No  painter  can  put  on  canvas,  and  no 
man  can  put  into  life,  what  is  not  first  in 
his  own  heart.  Here  is  the  place  for  each 
of  us  to  begin — within  our  own  hearts.  Be- 
fore we  can  cooperate  with  God  we  must 
get  right  with  God.  We  live  in  rushing 
times,  when  men  are  hard  pressed  with 
clamorous  temptations.  Men  are  needed 
who  are  right  with  God,  and  who,  because 
right  with  God,  are  towers  of  strength  and 
cities  of  refuge  to  those  about  them.  Peo- 
ple are  influenced,  not  by  theories  and  the- 
ologies and  philosophies,  but  by  men.  The 
right  kind  of  men  persuade  and  inspire 
others  to  do  right.  Every  one  stands  in  the 
center  of  a  circle  of  opportunities  influenc- 
ing lives  on  every  hand.  When  we  are 
right  with  God  God  works  with  us,  our 
circle  of  opportunities  enlarges,  and  our 
power  and  usefulness  increase.  The  mea- 
sure of  a  man  is  his  work. 

Speaking  of  the  world  war  when  the 
food  conservation  campaign  was  on,  "  The 
Continent  "  said :  "  We  are  all  in  it.     For 

[246] 


Cooperating  witb  (Boo 

each  man  the  general  duty  sharpens  down 
to  a  point  which  thrusts  into  his  own  life. 
Nor  can  it  be  escaped  by  an  easy  sense  of 
the  corporate  duty.  Calculating  the  mini- 
mum which  each  person  should  accomplish, 
on  the  supposition  that  every  other  person 
will  do  that  same  minimum,  is  idle.  Sav- 
ing such  a  fraction  of  an  ounce  of  butter 
each  week,  or  reducing  by  such  a  petty  mea- 
sure the  use  of  meat  or  wheat,  is  only  an 
appeal  to  the  latent  selfishness  of  the  na- 
tion. It  really  seems  to  signify  that  the 
war  can  be  accomplished  without  any  great 
sacrifice  from  anybody.  But  if  the  experi- 
ence of  the  other  warring  nations  is  a  guide, 
that  is  a  grave  error.  Nothing  but  cutting 
sacrifice  will  do  what  the  world  needs  now. 
Nothing  but  a  sharpened  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  will  carry  the  nation  safely 
through  this  crisis.  There  is  no  hope  from 
men  who  are  still  seeking  their  slothful 
ease,  resenting  intrusion  of  calls  for  aid. 
Men  who  snarl  when  more  money,  or  more 
time,  or  more  labor  is  called  for  in  this 
crisis  are  no  help  but  a  hindrance.  .  . 

"  ■  In  peaceful  times,'  said  a  soldier  in 
General  Pershing's  army  in  France,  '  the 
soldier,  like  any  other  normal  person,  is 

[247] 


Cbe  Essentials  of  CbrtstiamtE 

jealous  of  his  "  rights/'  He  will  raise  more 
disturbance  over  being  called  on  for  extra 
duty  out  of  his  turn  than  most  any  other 
person  on  earth.  But  I  have  noticed  lately 
very  little  of  that  sort  of  thing.  The  atti- 
tude of  most  is  to  do  as  much  as  one  can, 
to  learn  one's  duties  better  than  Jim  Jones 
and  Sam  Smith,  and  then  do  those  duties 
better  still.  It  is  all  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  are  beginning  to  realize  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal responsibility  in  the  struggles  that  are 
to  come.  The  falling  short  of  one  may 
mean  disaster  to  many.'  .  . 

"  A  few  men  are  actually  interpreting  this 
war  in  terms  of  personal  advantage,  only  a 
few  out  of  the  total.  But  a  multitude  of 
men  are  still  thinking  of  it  as  somebody 
else's  affair.  Since  they  are  not  called  to 
the  actual  bearing  of  arms,  they  shake  off 
all  sense  of  duty.  Meanwhile,  there  is  a 
growing  multitude  who  are  seeking  with 
deep  earnestness  to  meet  the  crisis  as  a  per- 
sonal one,  making  financial  and  personal 
sacrifices  in  its  behalf,  bearing  it  as  a  per- 
sonal burden,  expecting  to  give  account  of 
their  faithfulness  to  God." 

Surely  the  case  could  not  be  better  stated 
for  the  religious  life.     The  battle  that  is 

[248] 


Cooperating  witb  <5o0 

on  for  righteousness  is  unspeakably  more 
important  than  the  world  war.  Indeed, 
the  war  was  a  part  of  the  battle  for  right- 
eousness in  human  relations.  Had  the  bat- 
tle for  righteousness  been  adequately  fought 
there  would  have  been  no  war.  Every  man 
is  needed  in  the  fight.  Slackers  do  not  help 
win  battles.  Each  one  must  be  responsible 
for  his  bit. 


249 


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